Traveling to space should be an eye-opening experiencewhich will give you a new perspective humanity and its place in the universe. But while you might think that such an experience would make one infinitely wiser, new news they discovered that spaceflight really could make you a little dumber
with the recent influx of space travelers on private missions operated by companies like Blue Origin, scientists have taken the opportunity to see how real people react to time in space. Now this billionaires and retired actors heading into space, it offers a unique look at how normal bodies react to the pressures of spaceflight instead of astronauts who have spent decades training for their orbital missions.
Now, new message from New York Times revealed what the impact looks like, and it doesn’t sound great for anyone hoping to blast off into orbit anytime soon. According to a recent study into four private astronauts aboard 2021 Inspiration4A short time in orbit can affect brain function, your immune system, and even your physical fitness. As Times explains:
Four people who spent three days outside Earth in September 2021 experienced physical and mental changes that included a slight decline in cognitive tests, a stressed immune system and genetic changes in their cells, researchers report in a package of papers published Tuesday in the journal Nature and several others . other related magazines.
Almost everything that changed in the astronauts returned to normal after they hit Earth. None of the changes appear to be a startling warning to future space travelers. But the results also showed how little medical scientists know.
Christopher Mason, a professor of genomics, physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York and one of the leaders of the research, called the collection of documents and data “the deepest we’ve ever had on the crew. “, as he spoke at Monday’s press conference.
The four people who were chosen to represent “the wider community” include billionaire Jared Isaacman, who led the mission; Hayley Arceneaux, Medical Assistant; Sian Proctor, community college professor; and Christopher Sembroski, engineer. However, the researchers anonymized each person’s data from the Inspiration4 mission.
Over their journey into spaceas well as the build-up and days after their flight, participants provided scientists with everything from blood and urine samples to cognitive data collected using specially designed tasks.
Research analyzing the collected data found that kidney function was affected by time in space, making kidney stones slightly more likely to form, and genetic markers that indicate age were also increased, meaning you look genetically younger in spaceaccording to article published by Nature. The team also investigated the crew’s ability to focus and sustain attention in space. As Times adds:
Astronauts performed several tests on iPads to measure their cognitive performance in space. One test assessed what is known as psychomotor alertness, a measure of the ability to focus on a task and sustain attention. The astronaut stared at the box on the screen. A stopwatch suddenly appeared in the box, counting the time until the button was pressed.
If the response was too slow, longer than 355 milliseconds, it was considered a lapse of attention. On average, performance in space decreased compared to when Inspiration4 astronauts completed the same test on the ground. Other tests indicate deficits in visual search and working memory.
The test found that the response time of an astronaut in space decreased, but the researchers admitted that this could also be because the participants were distracted by the majesty of space.
Despite the study’s limited sample size, such research will be important as more and more people travel to orbit in the coming years. It might help the mission is like NASA’s Artemis program develop alerts and control manuals for anyone in orbit and could influence the way new generation space stations are designed.