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2026-09-03 -Land of the Free

Pentagon orders mandatory testosterone tests for male troops 30 and older

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Posted by Skidmark 2026-09-03 06:54|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [171 views ] Top

1 Red Blood Cell Factory
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting innovative proposals in support of the Red Blood Cell Factory program (RBC-Factory). RBC-Factory will create a medical device-based platform to insert additional biologically active components (e.g., cargos) into human red blood cells (RBCs) and assess the ethical, legal, and social impacts (ELSI) of the device(s) for cargo insertion and the mRBCs, respectively. RBCs with cargos (aka modified red blood cells; mRBCs) that are reintroduced into a host will endow the recipient with additional protections and/or performance maintenance thus allowing warfighters to operate more effectively in dangerous or extreme environments. RBC-Factory will produce a prototype device and knowledge about the parameter space (e.g., molecular weight, size, mass-to-charge, viscosity, hydrophobicity, etc.) for cargos that can be added to create mRBCs.

Posted by Skidmark 2026-09-03 07:18|| 2026-09-03 07:18|| Front Page Top

2 Military Researchers Are Trying to Hack Troops' Blood
The Defense Department's deep research and development arm is exploring ways to hack U.S. service members' blood so they can fight harder and longer in what could represent a major step toward engineering troops with seemingly superhuman capabilities.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Red Blood Cell-Factory program, unveiled in December, is developing a medical device that could feed "biologically active components" into U.S. troops' red blood cells. Those doses, when triggered, could help them overcome injury or illness on the battlefield.

That could help troops operate in the harshest environments, from extreme cold to disease-ridden jungles to even subterranean environments, according to RBC-Factory program manager Dr. Chris Bettinger.

"This is all about reimagining how we can protect service members," Bettinger tells Military.com. "We want to answer the question: To what extent can we endow red blood cells with compounds in a stable way, and have those red blood cells serve as a durable, circulating project to contain and release that compound?"

Posted by Skidmark 2026-09-03 07:25|| 2026-09-03 07:25|| Front Page Top

3 The testosterone precursor DHEA is available in grocery store vitamin aisles.

Posted by trailing wife 2026-09-03 09:55|| 2026-09-03 09:55|| Front Page Top

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