| dethalternate | Date: Thursday, 07-May-2015, 12:14 PM | Message # 1 |
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| Mars astronauts risk brain damage from cosmic rays, say scientists
As if boredom, cramped conditions, and limited company were not enough to worry about on a voyage to Mars, future astronauts will face brain damage from cosmic rays too.
Researchers in the US exposed mice to streams of high energy particles– similar to those found in galactic cosmic rays - and found they produced nervous system damage that caused the animals’ performance to plummet.
“This is not positive news for astronauts deployed on a two- to three-year round trip to Mars,” said Charles Limoli, a professor of radiation oncology at the University of California, Irvine.
“Performance decrements, memory deficits, and loss of awareness and focus during spaceflight may affect mission-critical activities, and exposure to these particles may have long-term adverse consequences to cognition throughout life,” he added.
“This is not a deal breaker but it represents an issue Nasa needs to prepare for,” Limoli told the Guardian. “It could develop into performance-based decrements and elevated anxiety and affect the ability to problem solve. These effects are likely to be subtle, however, and would not preclude our efforts to plan future manned deep space missions.”
Read more/full article/source - http://www.theguardian.com/science....entists
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