Here is a photo of a US Soldier, a Marine actually. Mind you it looks mighty dry in Iraq. It makes you wonder whether a Marine is quite the right choice. Their name tends to imply a somewhat wetter environment. Still I assume that the US Military knows what they are doing placing soldiers with such an amphibious name in a desert.

He looks pretty tough though. Not tough enough for the US Military however. They are always looking for ways to toughen up their soldiers and since they are not members of the International Olympic Committee they don't have to pretend to be tough on performance enhancing drugs.

When it comes to performance enhancement the wonder drugs for humans are androgens, those are the male sex hormones. Everybody benefits from a bit of androgen in their lives, even women. So what do androgens do, well apart from a bit of a downer about them slightly increasing the risk of prostate cancer in men, they facilitate development of muscle mass and are critical in the development of bone density. Increased androgen levels result in skulls that are thicker, increased formation on the outside of long bones, such as the femur, decreased formation on the marrow surface inside the bone, reduced bone loss and low bone "turnover." In spite of the helmet our friend is wearing I think we all recognise that a thicker skull has to be an advantage in his line of work.

Anyway the US Military think it is and they have given Oregon Health & Science University $1.72 million to research it on their behalf.

You can read about their research here.