Weapons

Bullets that don't miss, weaponized insects and more: Innovations from DARPA, America’s secret lab

Some of DARPA’s most incredible military research centers on the deadliest of weapons: the human mind.

Under Justin Sanchez, head of the Biological Technologies Office at DARPA, the organization has funded human experiments at Wake Forest, the University of Southern California, and the University of Pennsylvania, with the aim of giving individuals a memory “boost.”

Researchers implanted electrodes into one person’s brain to record mental activity associated with recognizing patterns and memorizing word lists.

Then they reinforced that person’s memory by playing back the recorded brain activity through the circuits, significantly improving their memory.

However, many people have questioned these findings, including former DARPA program manager Doug Weber.

He explained to The Atlantic that when scientists put electrodes in the brain, those devices eventually fail—after a few months or a few years, mainly because of blood leakage.