It turns out that spending time in space can change your brain (and you might have to be spun around to prevent it).
But one new study suggests that spaceflight could affect the human brain in strange and unusual ways, which could impair astronaut eyesight and last for a long time.
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Since the days of the shuttle program to today, astronauts have reported issues with vision after traveling to space. Medical evaluations on Earth have revealed that astronauts' optic nerves swell and some experience retinal hemorrhage and other structural changes to their eyes.
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'Spacefarers' predicts how space colonization will happen | Science News
By 20th century expectations, we are way behind schedule on colonizing the solar system. After the Apollo moon landings, some scientists and NASA officials envisioned launching astronauts to Mars in the 1980s and building cities in space to be habitable by the 2000s. But the only humans in space today are a few astronauts in a lone space station orbiting Earth.
That may soon change, says science writer Christopher Wanjek. China is preparing to send crewed missions to the moon by the 2030s. SpaceX founder Elon Musk hopes to take people to the Red Planet, while Bigelow Aerospace is drawing up plans for Earth-orbiting hotels. Increasing competition for the geopolitical power and profits promised by space travel ( SN: 12/21/19 & 1/4/20, p. 31 ) may finally get astronauts back to the moon and beyond, Wanjek says.
NASA advances food-in-space technology
Technique offers path for biomanufacturing medicines during space flights: Research simulating
"If we can get microorganisms to grow well in space, astronauts can use them to make pharmaceuticals on demand. This could be vital for survival on long missions where resupplying is not an option." said Richard Bonocora, senior author and a faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "Here we were asking: 'Is there a better way to grow microorganisms that what is currently being used is space?
With promising results, the team hopes to conduct a similar experiment aboard the space station. And while they're starting with E. coli , the workhorse of molecular biology, the team hopes to eventually use the instrument to grow microorganisms with radiation resistance, which could protect developing pharmaceuticals from the ever-present radiation of space as they are produced.
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We might need to launch sex bots into space to keep astronauts 'company'
The 2018 movie A.I. Rising explores how machines could fulfill desires and support humans during space travel. Lo and behold, it might contain the solution to problems related to space exploration.
Astronauts, despite their rigorous training, remain humans with needs. For space exploration and colonization to succeed, we need to overcome taboos, consider human needs and desires and provide concrete, realistic solutions based on science rather than conventional morality.
Long Duration Spaceflight Affects Astronauts' Brain Volume - SpaceRef
Pituitary deformity examples in three crewmembers before spaceflight and after spaceflight (day 1). (a) Only the first crewmember shown in a had no previous exposure to spaceflight. Reconstructed orthogonal sagittal three-dimensional T1-weighted images in the pituitary gland centered at the pituitary stalk are shown for each crewmember. (a) Before flight there is normal upward convexity of the pituitary gland dome (black arrowhead) and a straight pituitary stalk (white arrowhead).
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Now a new study in the journal Radiology suggests that the impact of long-duration space travel is more far-reaching, potentially causing brain volume changes and pituitary gland deformation.
No, Seriously, DOT, Give Cyclists and Pedestrians Emergency Space on the Queensboro Bridge
The city needs to — no, seriously, this time — give pedestrians their own “desperately needed travel space” on the Queensboro Bridge to ensure that all commuters are able to practice “the six-feet social distancing protocols our government and healthcare professionals have recommended,” a Queens City Council Member is demanding.
In a letter to the Department of Transportation sent on Wednesday, Costa Constantinides put a new context — the virus — on his longstanding call for separate lanes for pedestrians and cyclists, who currently share the narrow northernmost lane on the crowded span.
For All Mankind imagines a very different era of lunar exploration | National Post
It’s one of history’s great counterfactuals. What if, in the summer of 1969, the world watched and listened as a Soviet cosmonaut – Alexei Leonov, perhaps – became the first human to set foot on the moon?
It wasn’t a far-fetched idea during the Space Race. The Russians had already beaten their American counterparts to the goal of the first artificial satellite, the first man in space, and even the first soft landing on the moon, by a robot probe called Luna 9.
Happening on Twitter
Space travel can seriously change your brain https://t.co/gYalbSc0UV https://t.co/fQFZL3rYS0 SPACEdotcom (from NYC) Tue Apr 14 21:13:34 +0000 2020
☀️ We know the weather's getting warmer, but we all need to stick to the rules so we can keep our parks open. ❌ pi… https://t.co/e57h0kn5aP CamdenCouncil (from London Borough of Camden) Wed Apr 08 12:30:00 +0000 2020
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