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The military is a dangerous calling.\xa0But technology can help out, so researchers are constantly trying to make soldiers safer.\xa0Writer Mary Roach investigates how scientists studying so-called human factors are protecting troops from such aggressive foes as heat, noise, and fatigue.\xa0She also learns how bad odors were once considered a secret weapon.\nAnd while soldiers have long used camouflage to help them blend in, insects may be\xa0the original masters of disguise.\xa0A discovery in fossilized amber shows that a variety of bugs employed D.I.Y. camouflaging tricks 100 million years ago.\nBut where is the defense race headed?\xa0The top-secret branch of the Pentagon whose job is to make tomorrow happen today has some ideas.\xa0A reporter shares DARPA\u2019s plan for augmented super-soldiers.\nPlus, do we always need a technological boost to stay safe?\xa0Find out how your innate chemical defense system protects you.\xa0It\u2019s an adrenaline rush!\nGuests:\n\n\nMary Roach\xa0\xa0- Science reporter, author of \u201cGrunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War\u201d\n\n\nMichael Engel\xa0\u2013 Entomologist, invertebrate paleontologist, University of Kansas, and senior curator of its Natural History Museum\n\n\nAnnie Jacobsen\xa0\u2013 Journalist, author of\xa0The Pentagon\u2019s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America\u2019s Top-Secret Military Research Agency\n\n\n\nBrian Hoffman\xa0\u2013 Professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, author of Adrenaline\n\n\n\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices