DARPA, the U.S. defense agency devoted to high-risk, high-reward research, has traditionally dedicated its resources to the physical sciences: nuclear bomb test detection, the stealth fighter, and the Internet are just a few of the technologies that DARPA pioneered. The agency announced a new emphasis on biology with the establishment of its Biological Technologies Office, BTO.
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The agency began taking a greater interest in the life sciences over the last decade, spurred in particular by the needs of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with missing limbs and neural problems. The new office will incorporate existing bio-related programs, and plans to start others across a wide range of scales—from individual cells to humans to global ecosystems.
Geoff Ling, director of the BTO, says that biological research is a natural complement to the agency’s existing engineering knowhow. For example, he says, warfighters’ capabilities must match those of their tools. “There’s a recognition that our technology is improving, but there still remains a human in the loop,” he says. Ling sees an obligation to ensure that “the human can perform optimally in that entire system.”
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The above story is based on materials provided by IEEE Spectrum, Eliza Strickland.
