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Volcanoes linked to major burst of evolution
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Insight
Astronaut gut reaction: the microbiome in space GOING to space changes a person. But humans aren’t the only space travellers we need to consider: microbes can change after just a few days without gravity. Now scientists worry that the bugs astronauts bring with them in their guts may turn traitor in space. The human body isn’t just one organism, but an entire community teeming with millions of microbes, so there’s a whole community of new questions that spacefarers need to think about. In a report released last week, scientists at the US National Academies highlighted the extent of our ignorance about the way microbes behave in space, and how best to treat astronauts who get sick. The report cited studies showing that Salmonella typhimurium, known for causing food-borne illness, can change its genome to become more virulent after just a few days in space. And studies have also shown that spaceflight can shorten the shelf lives of medications. In the past decade or so, scientists have realised the importance of the millions of microbes humans carry around internally, called the
nasa
What goes on inside an astronaut’s body during spaceflight?
get in. Last week, an experiment blasted off for the ISS aboard the Cygnus space capsule to test whether E. coli can survive higher levels of antibiotics in microgravity than it can on Earth. And in June, Nickerson will launch a new experiment to infect roundworms with Salmonella while they are in space, to see the disease take its course without gravity.
live on the ISS for a full year, the longest mission of any NASA astronaut in history. And private initiatives have attracted the attention of plenty of wannabe astronauts. “We all have our eye on sending people to Mars or to an asteroid or to the moon for a long period of time,” says Mark Shelhamer, chief scientist at NASA’s Human Research Program. “The question is, what happens when you send someone?” In the end, though, space travel may mean accepting some gaps in our knowledge. “Would a trip to Mars be riskier than what we’ve done in previous space missions? Absolutely,” says Jonathan Clark, chief medical officer for the Inspiration Mars Foundation, a private venture aiming to send two astronauts around the Red Planet in 2018. But there is always somebody willing to go, he says. Aviva Hope Rutkin n
microbiome, to our well-being. Microbes outnumber human cells in the body by 10 to 1, and many perform vital functions that keep us healthy, like helping digest our food and monitoring our immune system. “Astronauts may lose “We function largely within the context of our microbiome,” says Cheryl microbes they rely on to stay healthy, leaving them Nickerson of Arizona State University in Tempe, who has studied spacefaring susceptible to infections” Salmonella. “But we know essentially These questions are especially nothing about how spaceflight affects important now that space agencies not just the pathogens but also the are planning to make longer trips than body’s microbes.” ever before. On 8 January, NASA won To help clear things up, a project US presidential approval to extend the called Astronaut Microbiome is space station’s lifetime until at least currently flying on the International 2024, four years past its original end Space Station. A team led by Hernan date. Starting next year, two men will Lorenzi at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland, will take saliva, blood and stool samples from nine astronauts before, during and after a six-month stint aboard the ISS to find out what actually happens to their microbiome in space. The team suspects that astronauts may lose certain microbes that they rely on to stay healthy, leaving them more susceptible to opportunistic infections. Michael Faraday Prize Lecture given by While Lorenzi’s team investigates Professor Frank Close OBE, University of Oxford inside the human body, others remain focused on the microbes fighting to Tuesday 28 January 2014, 6.30pm
The asymmetric Universe
The Royal Society, 6 – 9 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AG This talk will explore the profound role of asymmetry in nature, and the role of its agent – the Higgs Boson – in creating a Universe fit for life. Free admission – doors open at 6pm For more information visit royalsociety.org/events/2014/asymmetricUniverse
Registered Charity No 207043
18 January 2014 | NewScientist | 9
Insight
Astronaut gut reaction: the microbiome in space GOING to space changes a person. But humans aren’t the only space travellers we need to consider: microbes can change after just a few days without gravity. Now scientists worry that the bugs astronauts bring with them in their guts may turn traitor in space. The human body isn’t just one organism, but an entire community teeming with millions of microbes, so there’s a whole community of new questions that spacefarers need to think about. In a report released last week, scientists at the US National Academies highlighted the extent of our ignorance about the way microbes behave in space, and how best to treat astronauts who get sick. The report cited studies showing that Salmonella typhimurium, known for causing food-borne illness, can change its genome to become more virulent after just a few days in space. And studies have also shown that spaceflight can shorten the shelf lives of medications. In the past decade or so, scientists have realised the importance of the millions of microbes humans carry around internally, called the
nasa
What goes on inside an astronaut’s body during spaceflight?
get in. Last week, an experiment blasted off for the ISS aboard the Cygnus space capsule to test whether E. coli can survive higher levels of antibiotics in microgravity than it can on Earth. And in June, Nickerson will launch a new experiment to infect roundworms with Salmonella while they are in space, to see the disease take its course without gravity.
live on the ISS for a full year, the longest mission of any NASA astronaut in history. And private initiatives have attracted the attention of plenty of wannabe astronauts. “We all have our eye on sending people to Mars or to an asteroid or to the moon for a long period of time,” says Mark Shelhamer, chief scientist at NASA’s Human Research Program. “The question is, what happens when you send someone?” In the end, though, space travel may mean accepting some gaps in our knowledge. “Would a trip to Mars be riskier than what we’ve done in previous space missions? Absolutely,” says Jonathan Clark, chief medical officer for the Inspiration Mars Foundation, a private venture aiming to send two astronauts around the Red Planet in 2018. But there is always somebody willing to go, he says. Aviva Hope Rutkin n
microbiome, to our well-being. Microbes outnumber human cells in the body by 10 to 1, and many perform vital functions that keep us healthy, like helping digest our food and monitoring our immune system. “Astronauts may lose “We function largely within the context of our microbiome,” says Cheryl microbes they rely on to stay healthy, leaving them Nickerson of Arizona State University in Tempe, who has studied spacefaring susceptible to infections” Salmonella. “But we know essentially These questions are especially nothing about how spaceflight affects important now that space agencies not just the pathogens but also the are planning to make longer trips than body’s microbes.” ever before. On 8 January, NASA won To help clear things up, a project US presidential approval to extend the called Astronaut Microbiome is space station’s lifetime until at least currently flying on the International 2024, four years past its original end Space Station. A team led by Hernan date. Starting next year, two men will Lorenzi at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland, will take saliva, blood and stool samples from nine astronauts before, during and after a six-month stint aboard the ISS to find out what actually happens to their microbiome in space. The team suspects that astronauts may lose certain microbes that they rely on to stay healthy, leaving them more susceptible to opportunistic infections. Michael Faraday Prize Lecture given by While Lorenzi’s team investigates Professor Frank Close OBE, University of Oxford inside the human body, others remain focused on the microbes fighting to Tuesday 28 January 2014, 6.30pm
The asymmetric Universe
The Royal Society, 6 – 9 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AG This talk will explore the profound role of asymmetry in nature, and the role of its agent – the Higgs Boson – in creating a Universe fit for life. Free admission – doors open at 6pm For more information visit royalsociety.org/events/2014/asymmetricUniverse
Registered Charity No 207043
18 January 2014 | NewScientist | 9