Cosmos is dangerous for humans
Last reviewed: 17.10.2021
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Scientists are concerned about the upcoming flights to Mars - in their opinion, a person who has made such a trip, threatened with severe changes in the brain. Such conclusions were made by scientists after studying rodents, on the brain of which high-energy particles acted, like those that exist in cosmic rays.
Cosmic rays pierce ships and astronauts during long journeys and a new study is a continuation of last year's work, which studied the short-term effect of cosmic rays on the brain.
According to the latest data, cosmic rays are dangerous for people, their particles can negatively affect the nervous system and lead to changes, some of which do not last until the end of life, in particular, the journey into space can result in memory impairment, anxiety, severe depression, performance.
During the experiments rodents were irradiated with charged particles, then observed them in the laboratory. As a result, after half a year, severe changes were detected in the brain of the experimental subjects - neurons were damaged, the brain became inflamed. On tomography it was found that the reduction of processes and spinules caused changes in the neural network of the brain, as a result, signal transmission was disrupted in the brain cells. All this and provoked low productivity in learning and memorizing.
The study was conducted by Charles Limoli with colleagues who also found that irradiation with cosmic rays can cause suppression of unpleasant and stressful associations, such as those that arise from repeated training in swimming after an accident. All this can contribute to the appearance of anxiety, which will become a problem during a long journey to the red planet. It is worth noting that the results obtained after a six-month study, converge with last year's results (then the study lasted 1.5 months).
Cognitive impairments affect patients with brain cancer who underwent a course of photon irradiation at high doses. Professor Limoli and his colleagues also studied how the cognitive processes change after chemotherapy and brain irradiation.
According to the professor, astronauts will show signs of dementia a few months from the beginning of the trip, since it is planned that the journey to Mars will take several years, then scientists fear that problems will start to disturb the astronauts directly during the mission.
Scientists also noted that the employees of space stations are not endangered, since they are protected by the magnetosphere.
The work of Limoli and his colleagues is extremely important for the future exploration of the cosmos by mankind. Among the NASA programs are studies, during which the influence of cosmic radiation on a person is studied, because on the basis of the data obtained, travels into space, not only to Mars, but also beyond it, will be planned.
Professor Limoli noted that some possible solutions to the problem are already being developed, in particular, the inclusion of zones of increased protection during sleep or rest, but high-energy charged particles will penetrate the ship and it is impossible to block them today.
Team Limoli, in turn, is working on a drug that would protect the brain from negative comic radiation.