Grunt tackles the science behind some of a soldier's most challenging adversaries-- panic, exhaustion, heat, noise-- and introduces us to the scientists who seek to conquer them.

Second skin : what to wear to war -- Boom box : automotive safety for people who drive on bombs -- Fighting by ear : the conundrum of military noise -- Below the belt : the cruelest shot of all -- It could get weird: a salute to genital transplants -- Carnage under fire : how do combat medics cope? -- Sweating bullets : the war on heat -- Leaky SEALs : diarrhea as a threat to national security -- The maggot paradox : flies on the battlefield, for better and worse -- What doesn't kill you will make you reek : a brief history of stink bombs -- Old chum : how to make and test shark repellent -- That sinking feeling : when things go wrong under the sea -- Up and under : a submarine tries to sleep -- Feedback from the fallen : how the dead help the living stay that way.