It’s not uncommon for reality to mimic science fiction, and it looks like the U.S. military thinks some of Wolverine’s mutant power set could come in handy on the battlefield.

No, not the claws — we’re talking about the super-fast healing that tends to make the nigh-immortal X-Man almost invincible. Military contractor DARPA is developing project ElectRx designed to restore and maintain human health. Basically, it’s tech to monitor your body and help give it a kickstart when you’re injured.

The description is absolutely fascinating, and it sounds like this tech could potentially tap into our immune systems and help fight off disease and injury. Plus, they’re aiming to install this nerve-fiber-size equipment into the body through “minimally invasive” means, so it hopefully won’t require any drastic surgeries or treatment. Here’s an excerpt from the project’s technical synopsis, via Sploid:

ElectRx (pronounced "electrics") aims to develop new, high-precision, minimally invasive technologies for modulating nerve circuits to restore and maintain human health. ElectRx technologies are also expected to help accelerate scientific research aimed at achieving a more complete understanding of the structure and function of specific neural circuits and their role in health and disease. Potential targets include recently identified circuits involved in regulating immune system function, providing new hope for treating a range of inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic inflammatory response syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. ElectRx is also expected to improve peripheral nerve stimulation treatments for brain and mental health disorders, such as epilepsy, traumatic brain injury (TBI), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression.

Read through all the techno-babble, and this thing sounds extremely cool -- a bit scary, but cool. It’ll apparently be capable of accelerating the human body’s healing factor by modulating nerve signals and monitoring the body’s response to the treatment. DARPA program manager Doug Weber noted that the tech could “fundamentally change the manner in which doctors diagnose, monitor and treat injury and illness."

Along with potential injuries on the battlefield, ElectRx could also be the key to treating and diagnosing other illnesses and injuries to the human body. The implications are boundless, and this will definitely be a project to keep an eye on in the years to come.





(Via Sploid)