There’s a lot of talk about finding a way for humans to live in space.
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos both have grand plans for sustaining life on Mars – when they aren’t trolling each other on Twitter.
Musk’s SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule also automatically docked to a port on the International Space Station (ISS) recently, bringing us one step closer to space tourism.
What we don’t talk about is how living in space could affect us physically.
Here’s CNN:
Spending 340 days aboard the International Space Station between 2015 and 2016 caused changes in astronaut Scott Kelly’s body, from his weight down to his genes, according to the results of the NASA Twins Study, released Thursday.
The majority of changes that occurred in Kelly’s body, compared with his identical brother, Mark, on Earth, returned to normal once he came back from the space station. The study results suggest that human health can be “mostly sustained” for a year in space, the researchers said.
The study compared Scott’s body with that of his twin, Mark who stayed on earth.
After a year in space, Scott’s carotid artery got thicker. He also experienced DNA damage, gene expression changes, shifts in gut microbes, reduced cognitive abilities and a structural change at the ends of chromosomes called telomeres.
Scott’s eyeballs also changed shape. His retinal nerves thickened, and folds appeared in the choroid layer around the eye. The changes are associated with vision clarity and have been noted in other male astronauts because of the headward fluid shift of zero gravity. It’s called space-associated neuro-ocular syndrome or SANS. That same fluid shift caused a distension of the neck’s jugular vein, more cardiac output and a thickening of the forehead’s skin. This puts deep pressure on veins, eyes and blood vessels and causes drainage.
But it did not alter or mutate his DNA which means that we can presumably live safely in space for up to a year – provided you’re chilled with your eyeballs changing shape.
Check it out:
Who knew the human body could be so adaptable to change?
The results show “the resilience and robustness of the human body,” said Steven Platts, deputy chief scientist for NASA’s Human Research Program, which coordinated the study.
…”When we go into space and experience microgravity and travel at speeds like 17,500 miles an hour, our bodies adapt and continue to function and, by and large, function extremely well,” Platts said.
The study, which includes the work of 84 scientists who made up 10 teams from 12 universities in eight states in America, all studying different aspects of the human body in space, was published Thursday in the journal Science.
Thanks for your service, boys.
[source:cnn]
