REAL LIFE NEWS: COSMIC RAYS CAN FRY ASTRONAUT BRAINS
by Hazed
President Obama announced this week that America will send a crewed mission to Mars by the 2030s, with cooperation between government and private companies needed to achieve this goal.
There are a lot of hurdles to overcome – not least the health problems astronauts could suffer on a long space journey. A new study shows that one of those problems is a big one: cosmic rays could cause long-term brain damage and dementia.
Scientists from the University of California, Irvine, say they have seen this effect, which they call “space brain”, in rodents.
They subjected the mice and rats to radiation at various levels, to simulate the corrosive environment of space. The rodents were then studied to see what effect that radiation had on their brains.
The result was that six months after they received the dose of radiation, their brains still show high levels of brain inflammation and damage to neurons.
Oh dear.
Time to think about ways to shield space travellers from cosmic rays. We need to invent a force field!
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/10/astronauts_on_longterm_space_travel_could_be_at_risk_of_
getting_space_brains/
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/11/opinions/america-will-take-giant-leap-to-mars-barack-obama/
