DARPA -- Better Than Nationalized Healthcare

I couldn't resist the opportunity to blog about another very exciting, incredibly cool project that DARPA has begun. But first, a clarification to readers who are unfamiliar with the scope of DARPA projects.

Most know that DARPA is the Pentagon's research arm, established over 50 years ago, looking at pure research with a long-term horizon of 10 years. Why was DARPA established? Because while the service branches (Army, Navy, Air Force) have their own research directorates, the plain fact is that the service branches do not have the attention span for supporting technologies that don't have a relatively quick payback; also, that the R&D budgets are routinely cut to fund "guns and butter" budget shortfalls. DARPA is independent, answers to no single service branch, and delves into all technologies.

I remember being especially fascinated, about 10 years ago, when someone in the satellite community (could have been Air Force or an intel agency like the NRO) observed that "wouldn't it be nice if we could extend the life of satellites by having a filling station in the sky." Crazy idea, of course. But DARPA went out and competed it! A couple of years and $75 million later, a number of contractors deployed experimental satellites and demonstrated the concept. Whether it goes to production is the responsibility of the Air Force, NRO, and other agencies. But DARPA was able to make it happen quickly. [For more information, do a Google search for "DARPA -- Orbital Express."]

But DARPA isn't just about military hardware. A recent article discussed what might be their most radical project ever in the biotechnology field -- a program called BioDesign which synthesizes molecules and includes in the DNA a switch that can be turned on and off externally, thus guaranteeing that the biotechnology can never be used against the USA. The organisms would also be fortified so as to provide for cell resistance to natural decay.

It sound scary but in fact the opposite is also true. This research could also be the source of DNA therapies that would extend human life, perhaps indefinitely, certainly for many years beyond three score and ten. In effect, DARPA is doing the research that the commercial biotechnology industry could not find the funding for. DNA therapies that thwart aging. Talk about the ultimate health care reform.

For further information, do a search on "Pentagon Looks to Breed Immortal ‘Synthetic Organisms'."