BaTMAN och RoBIN är försvarsprogram

DARPA, Department of Defense’s R&D agency planerar att göra sina soldater mer effektiva med två nya projekt. Kanske inte världens mest coola nyhet om det inte var så att de två projekten heter Biochronicity and Temporal Mechanisms Arising in Nature och Robustness of Biologically-Inspired Networks. Vilket blir förkortat till BaTMAN och RoBIN. Detta kan ju man tro skulle vara något skämt från första April eller något Jack Kirby hittat på. Vilket inte alls är fallet om du läser beskrivningarna här:

BaTMAN:

Biochronicity and Temporal Mechanisms Arising in Nature (BaTMAN) could develop an understanding of the relationship between biological systems and the spatial-temporal universe through the application of advanced principles from the physical sciences. [...] Topic areas that may be of interest include, but are not limited to: quantum biology and molecular clocks; resetting and synchronization of biological clocks and rhythms; microscale recapitulation in macroscale; evolutionary pressure and time; physiological signal processing and clocks; timing and cognition; and robustness of clocks in development

RoBIN:

Robustness of Biologically-Inspired Networks (RoBIN), seeks to apply the critical control features of biological networks to build unique models for adaptable networks, and create a dynamic biologically-inspired network of scientists and other experts for crisis response and complex decision support. Topic areas that may be of interest include, but are not limited to: exploring collective behavior and recruitment, counter deception, modularity in networks and biology, models of robustness, recruitment of expertise, synthetic immune surveillance, model and design of robust biological networks, self-organized complexity across scales, and robust adaptive response systems.

Alltså inte långt kvar tills vi har S.T.R.I.P.E och L.E.G.I.O.N?