“We’re not looking to make an app to get you a latte faster,” reads the slogan of Biology Is Technology, the Pentagon’s research symposium held this week in New York City. “We’re looking to solve problems that matter.”
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency had tasked the best and brightest startups, major industry players and universities to create the Next Big Thing in science — no easy feat. (One big ask: As Mic reported Wednesday, DARPA expressed interest in controlling human adrenal responses, lowering anxiety and fear in U.S. soldiers.) “At DARPA, we think of these concepts in a human-centered way,” project manager Justin Sanchez said Tuesday at the conference, which is led by DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office.
“We serve military personnel … Whether that’s on the battlefield or when they come home, these are the kinds of technologies that can be useful in both domains.” Controlling human fear was just the tip of the biotechnological iceberg. Here are the biggest takeaways from the symposium — the most exciting advances in tech and science the U.S. military is looking to invest in.
1. Brain-machine symbiosis
2. Controlling the nervous system
3. Terraforming Mars
4. Disease resistance
5. Hearing for the deaf
6. Computers that read for us
7. Using genes to fight illness and then flushing them out
