Supersolders: Scientists Advance Sleep Deprivation Research
The arms race is one of the saddest ways of technological development on the planet. This is the acceleration of studies and investments in technology to develop resources that can be used in some kind of war. Still, scientists around the world are still working on ways to get some kind of formula to turn fighters into true supersolders.
The latest research for the real-life “Captain America” is done to combat combatant fatigue. The intention is to produce a substance that allows soldiers to exceed the limits of regular human endurance and can remain for many hours without the body having to rest. In other words, the superpower that we are closest to achieving is “no need to sleep”.
The research that has been most successful in this area is conducted with a drug called modafinil and is openly supported and overseen by military agencies (without that talk of “top secret experiments”). As usual, the United States leads research within its air force labs, closely followed by the armies of Canada, China, India, and France.
Modafinil has been tested on helicopter and fighter pilots in mission simulations involving bombing intruder targets and patrols of air and sea territories. In all situations, the drug greatly extended the ability to concentrate and the time the soldiers were able to stay active without rest. It is worth mentioning that the United States has been using the substance in battlefields since its conflict with Iraq in 2003.
To keep the body active longer, modafinil maintains normal levels of attention and other attributes that decline as the body reaches stages of great fatigue. This means the drug does not create superpowers with special powers as they appear in comics and the latest Hollywood movies. What happens is that the person can stay fully active and not sleep for a few days and nights on end.
What would be the application of this discovery in improving the condition of ordinary people? At first nothing was indicated by the owners of the discovery. The use of the drug is only military, in order to force no one to sleep in battle, except at the time of the final rest ...
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