Science/Tech

How Extraterrestrial Living Affects the Human Body

By Joie M Gahum | Update Date: Jan 31, 2017 07:00 AM EST

The most complex biomedical research is finally getting results after NASA astronaut Scott Kelley returns to Earth and is closely tested for any biological effects from his almost a year stay in space. Together with Scott Kelley's twin, Mark Kelley, researchers and scientists are aiming to discover the possible effects of zero-gravity on the human body.

News Australia cites reports about the changes in gene expression, DNA methylation and other biological markers that Scott Kelley incurred while staying for almost a year living in space. With the help of the astronaut's twin, Mark Kelley, the science experiment managed to create a control sample for the test to get insights on the changes the human body can sustain in space.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelley returned last March 2016 and has been showing significant changes after being exposed to zero-gravity for a long time. Although the experiment showed significant results, a small sample size might not be enough to clearly identify the impacts of space to the human body.

Scientists are also hoping to understand the effects of additional radiation to the structure of the human DNA. The possibilities of shortening the biological clock of astronauts due to the shortening of telomeres exposed in cosmic rays are also something they would like to unravel.

Scientific journal Nature meanwhile narrates the significance of the study. The process on how the experiment can perform a detailed molecular profiling of the effects of space to human life is significant enough with demanding environments in consideration. Geneticist Andrew Feinberg from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland even claims that some people do not realize how difficult it would be to do genomic mutations on astronauts in outer space.

Prior to being the controlled sample in this experiment, Mark Kelley also spent 54 days in space in four different space missions between 2001 and 2011. Scott Kelley spent 430 days in space from 2015 to 2016 which gives him a lifetime total of 520 days.

Further tests and experiments on the long-term effects to the human body of radiation and living in space are being conducted to identify the possibilities of life, a healthy and safe one, beyond our planet.

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