News.com (Australia) - Oct 24, 2005
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17013218-13762,00.html

Super-soldiers may get brain-chip

US military experts are attempting to create an army of super-human
soldiers
who will be more intelligent and deadly thanks to a microchip implanted
in
their brains.

Scientists believe the implant will vastly improve the memory of troops
so
that they can recall every detail of their training and become more
effective fighters.

Researchers at the University of Southern California's bio-engineering
department have created the chip, which acts in exactly the same way as
the
hippocampus- the part of the brain that deals with memory.

In experiments, the team removed that section of the brain of dead rats
and
inserted the chip in its place.  The implant sent exactly the same
electronic signals as the real thing.

The next stage of the project is to test the implant on live animals.
If
this work proves to be as successful, experiments could one day be
carried
out on soldiers.