While the idea of going to space is undoubtedly exciting, the impact it has on the human body can actually be quite scary.
The ways in which being off the planet can mess with one’s physiology are listed in icy, scientific detail in a new study that was published in the journal Cells. While there are many ways that space affects and transforms human physiology and psychology, these are the freakiest.
This multi-institutional cohort of researchers was directed by medical professionals from Houston’s Baylor University.
1. Mysterious celestial dust
There is a vast amount of knowledge regarding the effects of space on the body that has developed during the past 60 or so years of human spaceflight.
The issue of celestial dust, foul particulate matter in space, and dust on other planets and moons, all of which can enter space travellers’ lungs, is one of the biggest unanswered questions.
NASA published a risk assessment last summer where the space giant said that exposure to the moon and other celestial bodies could lead to serious health issues because of the “unique properties” of the dust there. These effects could be respiratory, cardiopulmonary, ocular or dermal.
The authors of the Cells paper have called this extraterrestrial dust the “biggest challenge for long-duration spaceflight.”
Researchers added that further study was required to understand the long-term consequences of exposure to this dust. By doing that, scientists would be able to develop “potential countermeasures” like special face masks. Needless to say, the concept of the health impact of space dust is relatively new.
2. ‘Mutation’
According to new research, as reported by Futurism, astronauts may be more prone to developing cancer because of genetic defects brought on by space radiation.
A groundbreaking study from the Mount Sinai Hospital’s Icahn School of Medicine in New York found incredible 34 new mutations when the genomes of NASA astronauts were examined last October.
At the time, the school’s press release noted that the most frequent of these mutations occurred in TP53, “a gene that produces a tumour-suppressing protein, and DNMT3A, one of the most frequently mutated genes in acute myeloid leukaemia.”
The Cells paper urges scientists to study the effects further, especially for people with “certain genotype-phenotype profiles … who may be more sensitive to the effects of radiation exposure.”
3. Immune system
As if all of that weren’t awful enough, research done in the past 10 years has revealed that a microgravity environment can impair the immune system as well as activate dormant infections.
The propensity of spaceflight to activate the mononucleosis-causing Epstein-Barr Virus is of special concern. The virus “reactivates during spaceflight, with EBV shedding in saliva increasing to levels 10 times those found pre- and post-flight,” according to medical experts at the University of Texas back in 2012.
According to a 2012 paper published by the Journal of Cellular Biology, “radiation and microgravity have been hypothesised to contribute to reactivation of EBV in space.”
Epstein-Barr virus, or EBV, is one of the most common human viruses in the world and stress has been shown to increase the reactivation of the virus too.
The Cells research argues that the strange space bacterium combined with the apparent immune suppression effect may make the problem much worse.
“Most importantly, studies have shown that bacteria encountered within the space environment appear to be more resistant to antibiotics and more harmful in general compared to bacteria encountered on Earth,” the paper reads. “This is in addition to the threat of novel bacteria species… that we have not yet discovered.”