Trip To Mars Could Damage Astronauts' Brains

Hugh Pickens writes writes "Alex Knapp reports that research by a team at the Rochester Medical Center suggests that exposure to the radiation of outer space could accelerate the onset of Alzheimer's disease in astronauts. 'Galactic cosmic radiation poses a significant threat to future astronauts... Exposure to ... equivalent to a mission to Mars could produce cognitive problems and speed up changes in the brain that are associated with Alzheimer's disease' says M. Kerry O'Banio. Researchers exposed mice with known timeframes for developing Alzheimer's to the type of low-level radiation that astronauts would be exposed to over time on a long space journey. The mice were then put through tests that measured their memory and cognitive ability and the mice exposed to radiation showed significant cognitive impairment. It's not going to be an easy problem to solve, either. The radiation the researchers used in their testing is composed of highly charged iron particles, which are relatively common in space. 'Because iron particles pack a bigger wallop it is extremely difficult from an engineering perspective to effectively shield against them,' says O'Banion. 'One would have to essentially wrap a spacecraft in a six-foot block of lead or concrete.'"

Comments

Re:Another reason we're stuck on this blue planet

[AlphaWolf_HK]

This is one of those "eye of the beholder" kind of things. You hold a particular viewpoint, so you are particularly sensitive to anything that goes against that viewpoint.

Really if you go look at slashdot's history, you'll actually find that it's rather left leaning. I still remember a long time ago during memogate how one of the slashdot editors added his two cents to a summary saying that even though the documents were proved false, they probably told a true story, while in a previous summary he claimed that slashdot was politically unbiased. I'm not sure what happened to him (kdawson) but it seemed that pretty much everybody (left and right) hated him anyways.

And this isn't a freedom of speech kind of thing either. Slashdot is a private entity, they can post whatever the hell they want to their own website, and they can remove whatever the hell they want from their own website. In this case, they let the moderation system determine that. Regardless, that is their choice. That the law doesn't force otherwise is free speech. If you want to get your message across, either do it in a public venue or your own private venue - the law won't stop that, and that is what makes it free speech.

Besides, you really ought to get out of the political labels, they are nothing but a distraction from the real issues. Left and right are a black and white illusion to what is really a big grey blob of different ideas.