Study Shows that Space Travel is Harmful to the Brain

[Northerner]

As if space travel was not already filled with enough dangers, a new study out today in the journal PLOS ONE shows that cosmic radiation ? which would bombard astronauts on deep space missions to places like Mars ? could accelerate the onset of Alzheimer?s disease.

?Galactic cosmic radiation poses a significant threat to future astronauts,? said M. Kerry O?Banion, M.D., Ph.D., a professor in the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy and the senior author of the study. ?The possibility that radiation exposure in space may give rise to health problems such as cancer has long been recognized. However, this study shows for the first time that exposure to radiation levels equivalent to a mission to Mars could produce cognitive problems and speed up changes in the brain that are associated with Alzheimer?s disease.?

http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/index.cfm?id=3713

 

[trophywench]

Just proves my decision to decline the invitation to go on the Shuttle was justified ! (nowt to do with the ?1m or whatever it was rumoured to be, obviously, or the fact I think people who want to, must have had their brain removed anyway ....)