Space Science: Why Mice, Beer, and Spermatozoa Sent to Orbit
April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin He became the first person in history to fly into space. A few decades later, the incredible became almost trivial - the world began talking about space tourism. True, it did not start very smoothly: in 1986, the first space tourist was to become an American teacher, Christa McAuliffe, who died 73 seconds after the launch of the Challenger shuttle, and the US passed a law banning flights to space for non-professionals. But the world was changing, and ways to ensure the safety of passengers were improved.
Businessman Dennis Tito, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth, Sensors Unlimited founder Gregory Olsen, Prodea Systems founder Anoushe Ansari, the first woman among space tourists, head of Intentional Software Corporation Charles Simony (and twice), computer game developer Richard Garry, have already managed to visit the ISS and Cirque du Soleil chief executive Guy Laliberte. And Ilona Mask’s launch of a Tesla car with a dummy on board cannot fail to impress - especially considering the ironic reference to the novels “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” in the form of the “Don't Panic” message on the multimedia system.
All this, however, does not mean that humanity has subjugated the cosmos. We still have a lot of tasks, such as plans for the colonization of Mars. And now, scientists do not miss the opportunity to use space for their own purposes. The International Space Station is a laboratory in orbit where you can conduct unique experiments. This could potentially be useful for both astronauts and future inhabitants of Mars, the flight to which, as it turned out, is twice as dangerous as everyone thought. But so far it allows at least to obtain data for scientific, including medical, discoveries.
Twin astronauts and genome alteration
Scott and Mark Kelly are the only absolutely identical cosmonauts in the world (they are identical twins). At least, that was until Scott spent almost a year in conditions of weightlessness. Usually, the astronauts "live" on the ISS for no more than six months, but Scott Kelly was intentionally sent to the station for a longer period - so that the changes in his body would be more noticeable. After returning, the researchers compared his performance with his brother: it turned out that Scott's height increased by almost five centimeters. In addition, its body weight has decreased, the microbiome (a set of microorganisms) of the intestine has almost completely changed, and the genome, according to a preliminary analysis, has undergone some changes.
All this allowed NASA experts to state that the space environment activated in the body of Scott Kelly a group of "cosmic" genes that affected immunity, features of bone tissue, eyesight, hearing and some other indicators. Despite the fact that most of the changes (for example, growth) after some time returned to the starting point, about 7% of the genes were fixed in the new state. Scientists believe that the cause of what is happening should be sought in "cosmic stress" - the impact on the body of an atypical environment, which the body perceives as a threat, responding to it accordingly.
The space environment activated in the body of Scott Kelly a group of "cosmic" genes that affected immunity, features of bone tissue, vision, hearing
In previous studies, by the way, it was noted that flights into space in a special way affect the brain, making it more neuroplastic. According to an experiment conducted at the University of Michigan, the amount of gray matter in astronauts decreased in some areas, while in others that were more needed at the moment — for example, in the zones responsible for lower limb movement — it increased.
At the same time, a team of scientists from the University of Florida found out that astronauts had a higher risk of heart problems when traveling to the Moon: based on data obtained from Apollo participants from 1961 to 1972, they found that cosmic radiation causes about five times more harm to the heart and vessels of the "lunar" astronauts in comparison with the astronauts who never flew to the moon.
Pinky and Brain: mice in space
The state of the liver is negatively affected not only by alcohol and fatty foods, but also by flights into space. This conclusion was made in 2011 by researchers from the University of Colorado, who first sent the rodents into space for almost two weeks (or more precisely, thirteen and a half days), and then looked at how their organs changed after this unusual journey. Analysis of the data showed that the main problems were associated with the liver: the animals found the initial signs of non-alcoholic fatty disease. It is rather difficult to establish the exact cause in such experiments, but scientists have suggested that the flight triggered processes that provoke the development of fibrosis (proliferation of connective tissue).
With regard to laboratory mice - their journey into space for modern science are among the most important. Experiments on rodents cannot be replicated in humans for ethical reasons - but they help to understand whether the human body can cope with the effects of long-lasting powerful cosmic radiation that can cause mutations, for example, leading to malignant tumors. Not only adult mice are sent to the ISS, but also frozen mouse embryos. After returning to Earth, they are introduced into the organisms of surrogate mouse mothers and, under traditional conditions, are watching the growth and development of mice.
In the middle of last year, Californian scientists announced their intention to send forty mice to the ISS at once to test a new osteoporosis vaccine. An experimental drug developed on the basis of bone protein NELL-1 should protect bone tissue from osteoclasts - the cells that destroy it. It has long been known that after fifty years, people lose an average of 0.5% of bone tissue every year. However, under weightless conditions, this process is accelerated. If the tests are successful, the vaccine will help both astronauts who are forced to spend months in orbit, and "earthlings" who are faced with bone damage.
Space Brewery
The abundance of research on topics that seem unscientific at first glance (for example, finding the reason women sniff their partners' shirts) helps to believe that science is not necessarily boring. This is especially true when scientists team up with gastronomical — or, in this case, alcoholic — enthusiasts. In 2017, the Czech brewing company Budweiser announced that it would soon send barley seeds to the ISS. What for? To become the first to start brewing beer right in space.
Of course, the brewers could not have done solely on their own. They joined forces with the Center for the Advancement of Space Science, the manager of the American laboratory on the ISS, and the private company Space Tango. Twenty barley seeds are planned to be sent to the space station, which will take part in at least two experiments: the first will study the behavior of seeds in microgravity conditions (that is, gravity within the spacecraft, which is present, although much weaker than on Earth), the second is barley growth in weightlessness.
True, "soon" in the case of space experiments is a loose concept. It is not yet clear whether the idea of the Budweiser owners will come true. The problem is that the seeds should have already been delivered to the ISS: the SpaceX CRS-13 rocket with them on board planned to start on December 4, 2017, then on December 8 or 12, but the launch was postponed all the time. Information on this issue has not yet been reported, so that cosmic beer is unlikely to start cooking this year.
Food by the rules and without
A full and balanced diet is one of the most important problems for astronauts during long flights. Of course, you can rely on the well-known "tubes", but scientists do not give up trying to develop something as close as possible to the earth's diet. On board the ISS, we have managed to grow only lettuce, but work on creating a more diverse menu does not stop for a minute.
Recently, a research team at the German Neumayer Station III in Antarctica, using hydroponics, managed to grow not only lettuce, but also radishes and cucumbers without light and soil. And even if Antarctica is not quite space, the harsh climatic conditions make it possible to work out technologies for growing vegetables (and in the future, fruits) that will be applicable to the ISS.
As far as meat is concerned, Memphis Meats has achieved some success in this; it has “grown” in the meatball lab, which in taste does not yield to traditional
As for meat, some success in this was achieved by Memphis Meats, which had “grown” in the meatball lab, in taste, in no way inferior to traditional ones. Representatives of the company are confident that the introduction of their products in the space diet may occur in the next five years. On the other hand, during this time in Space10, the innovation center and the IKEA special laboratory, they can figure out how to recreate their fast food of the future in zero gravity, including hot dogs from spirulina (blue-green alga) and worm meatballs, so Memphis Meats is not worth relax.
A team of scientists from the University of Pennsylvania can also compete for the right to feed astronauts. They have figured out how to turn waste into food. In the process of processing waste in a special closed system, they managed to get a culture of Methylococcus capsulatus, 52% consisting of proteins and 36% fat, which can be useful both in long flights and in future attempts to colonize other planets.
Cosmic mutations and terrestrial resistance
Why send colony staphylococcus colonies to the ISS? The answer to the question does not seem obvious, but the head of Nanobiosym Anita Goelle, who asked NASA about it, knows for sure. Dangerous "passengers" went into space on February 18, 2017, and the goal of the campaign was to study the mechanisms of mutations of these bacteria and, as a result, to obtain information that will help in the development of drugs on Earth.
It is important that Staphylococcus aureus is resistant to many antibiotics and can cause sepsis, blood infections and pneumonia. In previous studies, fungi grew faster under microgravity, and Goelle suggested that this could happen with bacteria that mutate more quickly. It is assumed that mutations with which we are not yet familiar may appear, and this will allow us to start working on suitable medications while the need for them has not yet arisen - sounds at least encouraging.
Sex and the birth of children on Mars
If we take the talk about the colonization of Mars as something real, a very important question arises: what to do with reproduction? It is very important to take into account the effect on germ cells of solar radiation, which is a hundred times stronger in space than on Earth. Another important factor is microgravity, which, as mentioned in 1988, can accelerate the movement of sperm. However, thirty years ago, researchers could not establish whether this affects the fertilization process.
Everything changed in 2017, when Japanese scientists sent frozen sperm samples of mice that were stored on the ISS for nine months into space. When they were returned to the ground, defrosted, and then used for fertilization, it turned out that the damage, although it was, was minimal. As a result, nine "space" mice appeared at once - quite normal, without anomalies in the genome or development, which themselves were capable of fertilization and gave full-fledged offspring.
This experiment allowed to say that the cosmos is quite suitable for fertilization environment. Another thing is that mice were born on Earth, and spermatozoa were stored on the ISS for not too long - and if these conditions change, the genome modification may become more significant. According to the researchers, they plan to check this as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
Photo:NASA (1, 2, 3)
