Particles
zipping through space could be the wrong stuff for Mars astronauts.
A study
using mice found these high-energy particles slice through the brain. They
pruned back connections linking brain cells. This left the animals with memory
and learning problems. The study’s authors now worry that astronauts could
suffer similar effects on long missions outside Earth’s protective atmosphere.
One example: traveling to Mars.
The explosion of
massive stars creates cosmic rays. This energetic radiation consists of
electrically charged particles. Traveling through space at nearly the speed of
light, theis radiation would bombard a spacecraft and its astronauts. For how
long? Well, a human mission to Mars could last between one and three years, the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration estimates.
Six weeks
later, the mice showed memory problems. They had a harder time recognizing new
toys than did unzapped mice. They also did a poorer job of remembering where a
toy had been. Details appeared May 1 in Science Advances.
Visible
brain damage also showed up. The radiation shortened the complex branches on
nerve cells that receive messages. It also left these brain cells with fewer
branches, the team found. “We weren’t expecting such dramatic effects from
these charged particles,” says Limoli.
By Alex Tortosa
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