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Skin-Tight Bodysuits Could Protect Astronauts From Bone Loss
jamie passes along a report about research from MIT's Man-Vehicle Laboratory into using "superhero-style" skinsuits to combat the effects of extended stays in microgravity on bone density in astronauts. (Abstract.) Quoting:
"Astronauts lose 1 to 2 percent of their bone mass for each month they spend in space. As far back as the Gemini missions, conditioning exercise regimes have been used to slow the rate of bone loss, but a 2001-2004 NASA-sponsored study showed that crew members aboard the International Space Station were still losing up to 2.7 percent of their interior bone material and 1.7 percent of outer hipbone material for each month they spent in space. ... With stirrups that loop around the feet, the elastic gravity skinsuit is purposely cut too short for the astronaut so that it stretches when put on — pulling the wearer's shoulders towards the feet. In normal gravity conditions on Earth, a human's legs bear more weight than the torso. Because the suit's legs stretch more than the torso section, the wearer's legs are subjected to a greater force — replicating gravity effects on Earth."
See? Seven of Nine's outfit was inspired by science after all.
Or does this sound like a bit of a stretch?
|Well then let's hope they start picking some sexier astronauts.
If we get hot female astronauts, skin tight bodysuits could protect from boner loss too.
thank you, thanks...I'll be here all week.
Zero gravity leather bondage is good for you!
Loss of Mojo
God is good all the time! -K
Star Trek has known this for years.
Was clearly inspired by Jeri Ryan's glorious ample breasts.
Its that bone loss in astronauts is usually caused by Predators and Aliens.
...valour?
It's always confirmation bias!
The article mentions wearing it in your sleep, but is that really necessary? I know I personally don't sleep standing up, so there's probably very little force-of-gravity effects on my legs.
It could be an issue if it's overly difficult to put on however, as that isn't mentioned.
stupidity and bad engineering to create a long duration space station with no simply ring design for rotation and simulated gravity.
n/t
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
If we get astronauts as sexy as 7/9 i'll be a happy camper.
Will we then get a Space Suit issue of Sport illustrated?
--- I was far from home, and the spell of the Eastern sea was upon me. -Lovecraft-
"Dude! What happened to your bones?"
'Lost them.'
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
My first thought is that this completely explains and legitimizes Col. Wilma Deering's wardrobe...
then I realized this also went for Cmdr. Rogers' and I threw up in my mouth a little.
The Digital Sorceress
Except instead of Rei or Asuka you get Buzz Aldrin... the future is a terrifying place children...
crazy dynamite monkey
See? Seven of Nine's outfit was inspired by science after all.
Yes, but it was inspired by reproductive science.
This has implications for exercise, no? Would you get stronger if you wear this all day, growing more bone and muscles than necessary?
"Because the suit's legs stretch more than the torso section, [...]"
The more stretch, the less force exerted. The legs should stretch LESS if you want more tension there.
The very important issue here is that while female astronauts are fit & clever, they're rarely hot. Most of them are in their late 30s / early 40s as they've spent 20+ years getting incredible credentials. The ones who have come from the military are somewhat butch, the civilians tend to be somewhat geeky. To wit -
http://www.google.ca/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1424&bih=719&q=female+astronauts
Its funny that this type of thing has been in Sci-Fi movies and television shows for decades, and I am thinking that even the original Gemini suits were somewhat form-fitting, and yet we are just now starting to look at the possibility of using these for real
Suits + exercise should both be used. But if you look at the physiology of bone, it's easy to see why both won't be enough. Bone is continually being destroyed and rebuilt by your body. The proportion of destruction to construction is controlled by stress (ignoring hormones and blood chemistry for the moment).
Gravity puts stress on your bones even when you lay down. Even in water. Any bit of movement magnifies it. Exercise in space is meant to substitute for this continual stress, but can't provide for continual, low level stress. These suits provide continual, low level stress to the skeleton. But it's still not the same.
Low level plus high level stress work great together. This is why some schools encourage kids to jump up and down, hard, to strengthen bones by including some high stress each day. But exercise and suits in space won't provide the same level to the entire skeleton that even a few hops on Earth plus a day of video games will.
There is one more technology used on Earth to selectively strengthen bones. Maybe it can provide the final missing stress. It turns out sound waves stress bone too. Audible sound would be too loud. But ultrasound is commonly used to accelerate bone healing and strengthening. It's not inconceivable that the skin tight suit could incorporate PVDF sheets that could transmit ultrasound into an astronaut's bones, applying it to understressed areas. It could even work as a cap to reduce bone loss in the skull.
Or just build a big 'ol hamster wheel.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
So in the picture attached to the article, one of the guys is wearing a nearly transparent white suit. I am not sure which researcher though that making one of the prototypes be transparent was a good idea (probably one fantasizing about female astronauts), but I have ten bucks that says the guy modeling that particular outfit just wanted to get a near-nude picture of himself on the internet for shits and giggles.
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
towards a sexy future!
velour excerpt: According to costumer designer William Blackburn, the uniforms on Star Trek: The Original Series were made of velour. They were always riding up on the actors, and what came to be known as "Command Gold" was originally "Command Green", but the green velour became varying shades of yellow and light greens under the studio lights.
Just for fun, I was surprised to see velour has been around for a while:
historyVelour was invented in 1844 in Lyons (France). The word "Velour" is derived from French which is a term for velvet.
There is one somewhat related EVA suit, too: http://mvl.mit.edu/EVA/biosuit/index.html
The bottom line seems to be: since some...tissues can't really maintain shape when put under mechanical pressure (what those tight suits are about), this means big breasts seem to be destined to die out, confined to this planet.
Mwuahahaha.
One that hath name thou can not otter
If the force on their feet is greater than on their shoulders, the astronauts would accelerate "up". That's what happens on Earth, the ground is constantly accelerating us up because the space itself is being distorted by mass. But that's not the case with this suit. The author probably means that the pressure on their feet is higher than on their shoulders, ie., the "downward" force is applied over a bigger area.
Thus, NASA is one step closer to creating
Zero
Suit
Samus (!)
I mean, my GOD! Is this the best "scientists" can come up with? Is there no LONG TERM thinking anymore? ...
The effect of prolongued space travel (e.g., Mars and back) and the use of this new space suite will be that astronaughts WILL keep more of their bone mass HOWEVER, the Karenni people have taught us that clothing that pulls your shoulders down has a drastic side effect - long necks
Oh wait ... that's why the aliens in Close Encounter look that way. Never mind - press on.
L'esperienza de questa dolce vita (The experience of this sweet life) - Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
This all seems a waste of effort to me. While it is not "gravity," why can't we just build a ship like 2001: A Space Odyssey? Why wouldn't centrifugal force work?
... need to wear their underwear on the outside?
http://blogostuff.blogspot.com/
Skin-Tight Bodysuits Could Protect Astronauts From Bone Loss
"You're going out into space wearing that?!
XKCD:Xeric Knowledge Comically Dispen
So many science fiction stories have shown that one can simulate gravity with centrifugal force by rotating a craft/station. Why don't we do this with the international space station?
or should us "big boned" people just become astronauts?
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
What happens if you stay in space a really long time? Do you just become a floating bag of boneless flesh? Why haven't we seen a dramatization of this, or did I miss something? I think it is a fascintating concept that the bones just disappear over time.
http://www.acetonestudio.com
> See? Seven of Nine's outfit was inspired by science after all.
That was a suit? I thought it was painted on?
Wonder if this suit could help osteoporosis sufferers?
Now their will be a legitimate reason for the Battlestar Galactica characters to where skin-tight uniforms in the new Syfy series. Tighten the suits and water down the writing. :( All in the quest to prevent bone density loss.
The publicity photo reminds me of Monty Python's Trim Jeans sketch, somehow.
I totally had this idea for a sci-fi story I was writing...I wasn't sure it was well-founded in science, it just seemed like a good idea. Turns out I rule.
Wearing a rubber will make my dick bigger, in space?
... for female astronauts. That probably won't just stop bone loss, it might make my bone bigger than ever!
Sure enough, the cow costume was hanging up next to the superhero outfit and sailors uniform. (S,Spud)
This won't work. Bone loss is not primarily caused by lack of exercise. It happens because the body gets confused, thinks its overhydrated and begins dropping water, which puts the blood into acidosis, which the body counters by releasing calcium ions. Hydration is regulated by the heart. In zero gravity, fluid shifts upward into heart sack, making the body believe it is overhydrated.
See? Seven of Nine's outfit was inspired by science after all.
Fail. Name one time when you ever saw Seven of Nine in a gravity-free environment.
The Russian cosmonauts wore the TNK V-1, or "Penguin suit", which used elastic bands that would force the knees to bend up to the chest unless the wearer exerted force.
Let's look at your list.
"Cold Fusion" should be changed to "Cold Fusion the way Ponds and Fleischman" said it can happen.
Anti-gravity stands until we REALLY know how gravity works instead of just watching what it does. Trivial anti-gravity devices such as rope, elevators and helicopters etc are exempt.
As for electronic telepathy, once again WTF is telepathy? There is no answer right or wrong to examples of such a device and it could even be argued that we have such a thing now with radio, microphones and headphones since information gets from one brain to another with a bit of help from mouth, audio and radio.
Weather Control? I had the good fortune from when I was seven years old to go to a scout hall that had a "geiger vortex gun" cloud seeding device from the 1900s out the front, so I got an exposure to a silly example of psuedoscience bullshit at an early age. It's a very long running scam which is why it usually gets put on the "impossible" list. We don't yet know enough to make such a thing work but scammers getting money from the desperate have been pretending to do so for a very long time. Maybe it will happen some day, but for now it should just ring alarm bells and encourage people to take a close look at the scientific equivalent of the Nigerian spam scam before they lose their cash.
I don't understand why you have transmutation on that list. It happens in nature during radioactive decay, and if you look in the sky during the day you'll see an example of heavier elements being formed from light elements.
Wireless power - why is that on the list? Radio is an low wattage implementation of it and you can have a radio that works with nothing but what it picks up from it's antenna to drive a small speaker (1930's crystal radio). Your toothbrush charger is half of a transformer and Faraday would have be able to look at it and explain to you how it works in seconds - it's not the "wireless power" that is being dismissed as impractical by anyone just a transformer that has more losses with increasing distance.
Possible does not mean practical in all situations - Tesla's idea of setting up a current between a resonating earth and the newly discovered ionosphere had a few major practical problems but we only know that from hindsight. Being on the opposite side of the earth to such a generator would be shocking to say the least (arc from ionosphere to ground). The reason wireless power is on the list is every now and again somebody half understands very well known laws of physics, comes up with something completely wrong based on loophole that isn't there to think they can get far better transmission than we have, and then shouts it from the rooftops without checking first if reality agrees. It's also used in scams. The space elevator power transmission thing is a semi-scam that is amusing. You have theoretical material making up the beanstalk that is one of the best electrical conductors known and you make the elevator powered by a laser and photovoltaic? That's just a way to lose power and pretend you are making progress until the theoretical material for the beanstalk exists.
nobody said that using rotations to simulate gravity is impossible. It's just not practical today.
today, it's still simpler and cheaper to just put a spandex suit on a couple of astronauts rather than tackling the huge amount of engineering and incredible costs of building mega structures with gigantic rotating rings in space. Even if one day, probably this will be the best solution.
just as, in some point of time, cracking a match and lighting a candle was a much simple solution than tackling all the logistics of bringing electricity to every single home.
there's a slight difference between "one day that might turn out to be successful" and "in today's context, it's not worth pursuing. For now."
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Thank the heavens they've finally worked it all out, at last! Can you believe, all of this time, we actually thought skin already did that?
Because the suit's legs stretch more than the torso section, the wearer's legs are subjected to a greater force — replicating gravity effects on Earth
This can only be true if the suit is split into two separate compartments of tension: feet to waist, and waist to shoulder.
This means that there will be an unbalanced force at around the waist, which will have to be counteracted by a very firm attachment to the waist so that the lower part of the suit does not slip down.
That, in turn, sounds very uncomfortable!
Imagine, say, wearing 100 pound pants with a belt tight enough so they don't slip (no use of suspenders: that would run the same 100 pound compression through your spine /and/ legs).
Also, is mere static compression really enough to prevent bone loss? I thought that bone responds to changing stresses. There is a theory that the piezo-electric effect is involved.
Placing the legs under a constant tension does not accurately simulate how they are actually loaded on earth: changing from sitting or lying to standing, shifting weight from one leg to the other during walking. and handling several times the body weight during activities like jumping and running.
Another thing: would stirrups be enough? You need density in the metatarsal bones of your feet, which are carrying your weight whenever you stand on your toes, which happens during walking, etc. What's the use of having good bone density in your femur and tibia, if you get a stress fracture in your foot.
Hmm ...
1 to 2 percent of their bone mass for each month they spend in space? then each year lost their interval 10 to 20 percent of their bone?