anotheranon | harder, better, faster, stronger

D. pointed me towards this Wired article about DARPA's "human enhancement" projects. The research done is meant to improve the efficacy/safety of soldiers in the field, but IMHO non-military applications are SO much more ripe with possiblity, at least from my lay perspective:

The one that intrigues me most is the "Glove", a device that creates incredible endurance/performance improvements simply by cooling the body through the hands - one of the DARPA team went from 100 pull ups per training session to 600 (!) in 12 weeks just by taking "cooling off" periods with this thing (read the article).

Of course they're developing this to help soldiers work in high heat without getting sick, but the first thing that occurred to me was how much more fencing I could do! As it stands now I'm a sweating mess after 2ish hours, spending half an hour warming up and another half hour at least to get my head fully in the game - it'd be nice to spend a few more hours in "the zone".

Ravers/clubbers could dance non-stop all night, no 4 am breakfast or chemical enhancements necessary :)

I'll leave the sexual possibilities to individual imaginations ;)

Turns out the Glove also works in the opposite direction, heating the hands to create more endurance in cold environments. I imagine this would be excellent news for any skiers, snowboarders, or other winter sports enthusiasts.

The only thing giving me pause is, who knows what the long term effects might be? Overheating might not be the cause of muscle fatigue, but are human joints designed to keep going for that long?

But still, being able to [insert fun activity here] for HOURS on end.... the mind boggles...