Categories: Science

Bio-Inspired Innovation and National Security, 2010

Background

Abstract:

For the average person, the mainstream media, and perhaps even the typical warfighter, the application of biology to military operations probably conjures up negative thoughts of Cold War–era biological weapons programs, the use of plague or other diseases as weapons during war, the effects of the Spanish flu on forces in Europe during World War I, medical treatments for severed limbs caused by battlefield injuries, and mental anguish caused by post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury. It is unfair to blame people for thinking of biological weapons or applications of biology to medicine when “biology in the military” is mentioned. To some degree, the two are difficult to separate from each other.

Particularly outside national security circles, much biotechnology research focuses on medical or health issues, agriculture, and industrial processes. Yet while these are very important topics, they are a narrow and limited way of viewing biology and its potential applications to national security. This volume is about applications of the biological sciences, which we call “biologically inspired innovations,” to the military. Rather than treating biology as a series of threats to be dealt with, such innovations generally approach the biological sciences as a set of opportunities for the military to gain strategic advantage over adversaries. These opportunities range from looking at tiny genes to large brains, from enhancing human performance to creating renewable energy, from sensing the environment around us to harnessing its power.

Continue scrolling for more...

Document Archive

Bio-Inspired Innovation and National Security, 2010 [375 Pages, 3.5MB]

 

 

 

Follow The Black Vault on Social Media:

This post was published on January 3, 2020 2:09 pm

John Greenewald

Recent Posts

The DoD Inspector General’s Evaluation of the DoD’s Actions Regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

This article was originally written in August 2024. However, additional document releases related to these…

July 15, 2025

Do Not Respond: Pentagon Staff Instructed to Ignore The Black Vault’s UAP Inquiry

The Department of Defense (DoD) has released 151 pages of internal records related to the…

July 15, 2025

U.S. Government Confirms Multiple Drone Incursions Over Pantex Nuclear Facility; Newly Released Documents Reveal Previously Unreported Security Events

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released a series of previously undisclosed documents confirming…

July 12, 2025

Air Force Confirms Drone Swarms Over Wright-Patterson AFB Led to Airspace Shutdown; Videos and Reports Released

Newly released Air Force records confirm that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) in Ohio experienced…

July 11, 2025

Navy Withheld Nearly 500 Pages About UAP Video Release Decision, Records Show FOIA Pressure Drove Disclosure

Newly released documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reveal that the U.S.…

July 9, 2025

CIA Mishandles UFO Files Again: Intelligence on Soviet UFO Reports Lost Forever

The CIA’s history of losing or mismanaging UFO-related records continues with yet another example, this…

July 7, 2025