Story Archives of 'war'

The Defense Department is heavily invested in neuroscience research, and not only to protect soldiers’ brains from bomb blasts. The National Research Council released a report this month with a bland-sounding title: "Emerging Cognitive Neuroscience and Related Technologies." But the material in the report is anything but dull.

It outlines the military and intelligence community’s interest in drugs that makes soldiers want to fight, technology linking robots directly to their controller’s brains, and lie-detecting scans administered to terror suspects. Drugs are also being developed to disrupt the opponent’s motivation to fight, from magnetic beams that induce seizures, to spraying chemicals into enemy territory. Other drugs would block the brain from associating long-term memories with emotion, posing the question of whether we really want guilt-free soldiers.

The idea of the government using mind control on its soldiers to remove inhibitions can raise alarm, carrying echoes of films like the 1962 film "The Manchurian Candidate." But there’s a lot more to it. Here to tell us more about this research is Jonathan D. Moreno. He’s a bioethicist at the Center for American Progress, and author of the book Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense. He’s also a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and editor of the journal "Science Progress."

(Photo by John Cooper)

A new book tells the stories of 49 Granite Staters who have fought in over 200 years of war - soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen. They are Medal of Honor recipients, and men who were the namesakes of Army forts, airfields, and Navy destroyers. We talk with the author of “Men of Granite” to hear the stories behind these New Hampshire men who served their country and made significant contributions.

Guests

• Bill McGee, author of “Men of Granite: True Stories of New Hampshire’s Fighting Men”
• Stuart Wallace, New Hampshire historian and Associate Professor of History at New Hampshire Technical Institute

The Front Porch will be preempted this evening for a special NHPR Veterans’ Day program from The Living Well Show.
The impact of war is usually measured by the number of deaths, the number of casualties, and the financial costs involved. But war creates many invisible wounds that are harder to quantify – and harder to deal with. Edward Tick, author of War and the Soul, found that traditional psychotherapy wasn’t adequate treatment for the emotional and psychological damages inflicted on the battlefield, so he studied the traditions of Native Americans, Greeks and other cultures. Host Shamaan C. C. Eagle talks with Dr. Tick about his studies.

You can listen to this program (and write a review of it) at the Public Radio Exchange.

Tonight on the Front Porch, we're preempting our usual program to bring you a Memorial Day special. Vince Gabriel is a Maine-based blues musician who's written an album of songs chronicling his experience in the Vietnam war. In this documentary produced by Tina Antolini, Vince takes listeners chronologically through his time in Vietnam, with his music leading us into stories about getting drafted, arriving in the jungle, the loss of his closest friend, and the relief of finally returning home.

The audio for tonight's show is not available at our website. However, you can listen to it at the Public Radio Exchange by clicking here.

When President Bush declared a "War on Terror" after the September 11th attacks, some critics said that such a war would be too nebulous to ever reach a real conclusion. Now a new documentary presented by Ted Koppel looks at the long term nature of this multi-front conflict, and how the U.S. military is gearing up for a war that could last for generations. We'll talk with Ted Koppel about his report and ask how victory can be achieved in this unique battle.

The documentary is called Koppel on Discovery: Our Children's Children's War. You can read more about it here.