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BOOST IN LEETHALITY MAY COME FROM WITHIN
When Sgt. 1st Class Victor Medina received groundbreaking therapy in 2012 involving virtual reality and computer-generated puzzles to help recover from a brain injury sustained in Iraq, he wasn't thinking about the future of the Army. As one of the first patients at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence in Bethesda, Md., Medina needed help to improve cognitive function, including memory, focus, reaction time and speech.
At the time, such problem-solving and stimulation therapy was used to treat injuries, learning disabilities and behavioral disorders and was considered a possible treatment for those suffering from dementia and Alzheimer's.
But those therapies MEDINA also had implications for future warfighters, as researchers were beginning to probe whether the treatments could make current and future soldiers faster, smarter and maybe even stronger.
When Medina started treatment, he couldn't walk, talk or speak. He credits brain training with helping him recover sufficiently to return to school and earn a master's degree.
"It was key to rewiring my brain, and I think it gave me the strength to prevent post-traumatic stress disorder," said Medina, now retired.
Expand Your Mind
Over the past five years, neuroscientists have made significant strides in understanding the brain's structure, plasticity, abilities and potential. They are exploring how to use technologies like brain exercises, advanced imaging, sensors, nanotechnology, gene editing and artificial intelligence to enhance cognition and expand soldiers' minds.
The Army has even established the Mad Scientist Initiative to bring together military and federal researchers, academicians and industry to explore options for building a "supersoldier."
"Not much has changed in the soldier physiologically ... from World War I, World War II," said Luke Shabro, deputy director of the initiative at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. "Short of being larger and potentially healthier, the human body itself hasn't changed much. Those limitations, however, may change over the next 30 years."
A large part of this warfighter enhancement effort is focused on the brain. Proponents say cognitive enhancement could be key to ensuring soldiers are physiologically equipped for the adversary of 2050.
"There is an enormous amount of cognitive training that can be done, tapping into the networks of the brain that can be improved, like visual processing,...