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NASA Is Studying the Fungus Among Us Before Humans Take It To a New Planet (fastcompany.com)
From a new report: As humanity starts packing for a trip to Mars, NASA scientists are studying what not to bring along for the journey. In short, leave the fungus at home. NASA researchers created a closed habitat -- similar to where humans would have to live to survive long space travel or on a new planet -- and looked at fungi and how they grew, publishing their findings in the journal Microbiome. Fungi are "extremophiles" that can survive in the harshest conditions, but in the closed environment of a space station, they can wreak havoc. To see exactly what kind of fungi might colonize astronauts while they colonize Mars, researchers set up an Inflatable Lunar/Mars Analog Habitat, which simulates the closed environment of the International Space Station. They found that certain kinds of fungi increased in number while humans were living inside the habitat, and the weakened immune systems that come with living in a bubble make people more vulnerable to fungi.
Come on, that's no way to talk about Donald Trump Jr!
(I know I know, flamebait and off topic, but you only live once)
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Contamination risk in both directions is too high. A thorough automated or heavily quarantined survey of Mars' possible life will be needed before humans land. We have to be pretty damned sure there's no life on Mars before we risk ruining what's there. That's a lot of digging and sifting and lab work, possibly costing more than a human mission itself.
Table-ized A.I.
He go for that toe jam fungus honey!
There's a humongous fungus among us?
The Russian station, MIR, was almost over-run by fungus. http://rense.com/general8/mir....
It was mutated by radiation and almost un-killable. Note that MIR was de-orbited and not all pieces burned up completely.
Yes, that's right, somewhere in the world, there might exist a colony of mutant space fungus that the Russians tried and failed to kill.
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People will contaminate the mars soil whatever they try. Why not just give up an try spreading as many microbes as possible and hope that they find a balance.
Or did you miss the recent article that Mars is inherently self-sterilizing?
If anything we can now me less careful about what we send to Mars, so it's easier to explore.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Pretty sure the article doesn't conclude "In short, leave the fungus at home". That's way too broad a generalization. (And while I'm not a microbiologist, I don't think even remotely possible).
In any event, who'd want to go to Mars without a good source of one's favorite beverage? Or bread? Beer/Wine/Bread and many other our favorite food and drinks all
depend on yeasts, which are in the fungus family.
This is very serious problem in deep diving habitats and environments. The constant moisture, combined with limited mobility and super-saturation of oxygen means that Athlete's Foot grows at a fantastic rate.
Divers living in those habitats have to devote a significant amount of time to scrubbing, cleaning, drying and powdering their feet, or fungal infections will get out of control very rapidly.
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The futuristic, sentient Fungi overlords of the planet Keppler 452b will unlikely remember the hominoid space travelers who deposited their life forms on a planet with a very hospitable environment.
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I saw a documentary where they were growing potatoes in Mars in shit. Whatever happened to that project, I wonder.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Those of us who have played Star Control have known for 25 years that it is a bad idea for humans to face off against fungus in space.
This story is so depressing about a fun guy? Fun gi Fungi Fuge.
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Super Mario Bros. The movie
*** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
Life and Evolution are working as they should..
Those pesky bugs in out gut and intestine are the rulers of Earth and when we shit them out on Mars, if, they would quickly mutate out of control and the whole planet including Elon's Idiots would be lost.
This is the reason to save $100 Billion dollars and shutdown NASA Human Flight Programs.
It's self-sterilizing if we assume that life on Mars couldn't have found a way to deal with perchlorates.
I'm not saying anything about the possibility of finding life there, I still think we'll find some - I'm just saying it means we really don't have to be as careful about every single spacecraft part that lands of Mars being totally sterile, because the *Earth* forms of life will not be able to survive for long there so they can't contaminate Mars.
Until now every single spacecraft that has been intended to land on Mars has been meticulously sterilized. Some parts still will to avoid instrument contamination, but not the whole thing. Even the dust that builds up on the rovers is probably chock full of perchlorate...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It will be easy they said.
Finally an explanation of The Quatermass Experiment.
I don't underestimate the effects on our behaviour of the various bacteria, viruses and fungi who share our bodies even though they tell me there's nothing to worry about. I for one recognize our ancient fungal overlords.
Nothing else to add.
Well, fortunately, as the article notes, we have scientists brilliant enough to simulate the ISS for us, just to make sure.
Next up: my $1M grant proposal to simulate what I'd do with a million dollars.
I feel like the same statement was made in Jurassic park.
All the same sex so there's no way they can contaminate earth!
The seas of bacteria that constitute the human body should be the single greatest concern. The impact of tourism on our own planet's ecosystems speaks volumes. If we don't wish to have an effect on the places we visit we shouldn't be going there in the first place.
It's self-sterilizing if we assume that life on Mars couldn't have found a way to deal with perchlorates. Extremophiles here on Earth demonstrate that life can evolve to survive in some pretty inhospitable and outright toxic environments.
So you think a delicate life form which has spent millions of years to adapt to a perchlorates chemical environment (again, theoretically possible given the extremophiles on Earth) in an extremely cold climate (water frozen most of the time), etc. would thrive magnificiently inside a moist water-based 37 C (~100 F ?) body ?!?
News flash: Your direct environment right here on Earth (like the dirt outside your house) is filled with countless species of bacteria which have adapted to it, and none of which bothers to infect you simply because they are optimized for outdoor conditions and not your body's entirely different set of conditions.
Anything that has evolved and adapted to the even harsher conditions on Mars (it these exist, because for now we haven't found any. Then again, in *theory* it should be possible given earth's extremophiles) would be even further away from the human body conditions. It would *definitely* be completely out of its optimal conditions inside you.
There's no realistic way you could credibly catch "The Mars Flu" and bring it back on Earth - unless mars way earth-like enough (it's not) so that life-form adapted to mars could find similar compatible environment on earth.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Don't pollute Mars!!!
Uh. I don't get it. Fungi live safely and necessarily on human bodies and on and in our food. I think if you really removed the microbes you wouldn't have a proper human anymore!!
If we are sending our meaty bodies to mars, the fungi and the bacteria are going, too. There is no second option.