We finally learned what the astronaut Scott Kelly bodies Did a year in space

We finally learned what the astronaut Scott Kelly bodies Did a year in space

Travel into the room looks like any kind of entertainment, and in many ways it is expected you can overlook some drawbacks. And ‘the loss of muscle mass, for one thing. Then there are the decalcification of bones and stress on the heart and eye damage and changes in the immune system and the failure of the genome, and effectively reduce the life expectancy in general. E ‘was to study all of these biological problems in part, that Scott Kelly 2015-2016 astronauts spent 340 days in space (Chronicle series TIME Emmy-nominated A Year in Space). Now, nearly three years after his return, the first tranche of studies in Kelly’s off-marathon world has been longer published in Science. The results are mixed – Kelly fared better than others on some measures and expected poor. The overall conclusion is less ambiguous: the space on the human body is very hard, and we have a lot to learn before you are willing to live on the moon or Mars to begin. One of the things that Kelly was an improbable perfect specimen for the study year-in-a space that has a twin brother, Mark Kelly. Both NASA astronauts were both share generally fit and healthy and is, of course, the same reason genome. Take two people with identical genetic software and places them in a decidedly non-identical environment and then compare all year and after. At least some of the differences in health is spent because of the time elapsed one of them in the room. Some of the most important medical experiments involved cardiovascular health. Throughout the flight Scott sonograms his carotid artery and urine samples and self-administered blood, and he regularly monitored his blood pressure and brachial collected. Mark subjected to identical tests. It ‘was the monitoring of the arteries, and the other gave the most amazing results, expanding with Scott carotid artery thickening and shortly after his arrival in orbit in this way on his return in four days. There were also circulate a peak in inflammatory markers, in particular such as C-reactive protein (CRP) called circulatory problems it is predictive of heart. Paradoxically, it was not the stress of travel in space relative to the intrinsic ones with the crazed, high-speed return to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft (which Scott for “going over Niagara Falls in a barrel that Flames “has compared), which caused some of the biggest problems with increased CRP eightfold before. the station at the time it landed on the left His plane did not come back with the release for 36 days. His immune system has taken a shot at. The abundance and function of T cells and other components of the immune system were more or less identical went into high between the two twins before Scott. But during his time in space, 50 of the 62 measures of cytokines interferon, interleukin and other immune system proteins shifted dramatically. “The changes we see responses to stress,” said Michael Snyder, chairman of the Department of Genetics at Stanford University, in a conference call two days before the publication of the Science paper held. “We have adequate people on Earth studies remain relatively stable, but if their immune system affected everyone in a stress response from.” The good news, Kelly immune profile after he returned more or less on the baseline, at home. The even better news is that in one study, flu vaccines received in both twins during the mission, there was little difference between how their bodies respond, which means that the immune response of Scott remained sound, although the its chemical had gone mad. The influence of space on the genome has been even more dramatic and happen quickly. “Once Scott got on the field, thousands of genes has begun to change,” said Christopher Mason, an associate professor in Biomedicine at Weill Cornell Medical Center, during the conference call. “They contain things that concern the repair and maintenance of DNA, as well as the initiation of the immune system when necessary.” Among the genetic changes they were what is known as inversion (in the gene sequences actually reversed end to end) and transpositions (in the change position individual genes on the chromosome), both of which are known to be connected to the radiation chamber. Not all changes are gone, or at least not the return of fast-Scott. “The reversals were persistent,” said Susan Bailey, a radiation cancer biologist at Colorado State University. . “At one point nine months after returning, we saw increased reversals” Bailey supervision is one of the most important parts of the twin study – that life expectancy in terms. That research usually involves telomeres, nucleic acid sequences at the end of chromosomes that protect them from damage, such as a plastic toe cap protects the tip of a string. gradually reduced in the course of life, telomeres, brought with its length closely with the individual longevity in connection. For all of prolonged discomfort and actually -unerwartet on average by 14.5% live in areas Kellys telomeres when he arrived. And ‘an effect on Earth researchers sought to achieve by telomerase, an enzyme that supports and builds telomeres. But the results are not consistent, not least because trying to immortalize cells, causing uncontrollable and multiply malignantly. In space, however, the extension seems to come free. “This was quite a surprise to us,” said Bailey. “We are looking for correlations can explain how this happens.” But what is free in rooms is priced worldwide. Almost immediately within 48 hours after landing back-Kelly telomere length of the baseline and, even worse, some were shorter than was actually the first of the mission. “Do not think of telomere extension as a fountain of youth,” warns Bailey. One respect in which the Scott Kelly system has changed less than the Earth’s Mark has involved his microbiome-the population of bacteria and other organisms that live in the intestine. In the diet space and the environment it is more or less consistent, an unusually stable microbiome production. “Mark was very changed environment,” said Bailey. “Travel around, he plays golf, change his diet, and this is a big difference.” Most other results were a mixture of good and bad. Kelly healthy breakdown and turnover of bone actually increased by 50% to 60% in the first six months in space, but he was back to a zero gravity during the second six, and his skeletal system yet subsided only a normal recovery rate. His performance on cognitive tests improved in much of the mission, but the performance in tests designed to measure their ability to recognize emotions dropped other people. g zero in about two liters of liquid flow from the lower half of the body to the upper half, which disconcerting to a pressure on the optic nerve and changes in the shape of the eyeball and the integrity of the retina more. Vision, not surprisingly, is suffering in space, although once again, the signs of this so-called neuro-ocular changes subsided for the most part, when Kelly came home. The sample group of people who have flown in space remains, with a total of only 559 people have dared the atmosphere has little ,. Only three Russian cosmonauts have everything at the top more than a year. Kelly next year, the record for an American. the machine building space in the generations since flown the first manned missions, we got better. But the biological machine that is the human body is not to be as accessible to new. Our future species beyond the earth rides on learning that living system to protect during his travels – and after.