Space Travel Harmful to the Brain

[knocker]

Houston, we have another problem

Study shows space travel is harmful to the brain

As if space travel was not already filled with enough dangers, a new study out today in the journal PLOS ONE shows that cosmic radiation – which would bombard astronauts on deep space missions to places like Mars – could accelerate the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

"Galactic cosmic radiation poses a significant threat to future astronauts," said M. Kerry O'Banion, M.D., Ph.D., a professor in the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy and the senior author of the study. "The possibility that radiation exposure in space may give rise to health problems such as cancer has long been recognized. However, this study shows for the first time that exposure to radiation levels equivalent to a mission to Mars could produce cognitive problems and speed up changes in the brain that are associated with Alzheimer's disease."

While space is full of radiation, the earth's magnetic field generally protects the planet and people in low earth orbit from these particles. However, once astronauts leave orbit, they are exposed to constant shower of various radioactive particles. With appropriate warning, astronauts can be shielded from dangerous radiation associated with solar flares. But there are also other forms of cosmic radiation that, for all intents and purposes, cannot be effectively blocked.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-12/uorm-hwh122712.php

[toggerob]

Biomechanical suits will be the only answer to the problem of longevity and exposure to the elements of space, wether such human 'modification' is ethical however raises more questions than answers. Not to mention the design of such a 'space suit' in terms of psychological wellbeing of having to survive journeys of tens of hundreds of years and more going with the technology we already have.