quote: The germ: Salmonella, best known as a culprit in food poisoning.
The trip: Space shuttle mission STS-115, September 2006.
The reason: Scientists wanted to see how space travel affects germs, so they took some along -- carefully wrapped -- for the ride.
The result: Mice that were fed the space germs were three times more likely to get sick, and died more quickly, than mice fed identical germs that had remained behind on Earth.
This kind of creeped me out. It reminded me of the Descolada a bit.
Posts: 1401 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Great, so now, here on earth, we have a more potent and virulent form of a disease that already kills people? Now, when that breaks out of the lab . . .
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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So if we take the germs and send them into space and bring them back more powerful than before, and then send them out and bring them back again, even more powerful! We can finally develop that strain of virus that can make I Put My Blue Genes On a reality!
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Synesthesia: It just makes me think, Why did they DO that? That's a stupid idea.
Understanding how germs and immune systems work in space is crucial if you want to have large numbers of people spending large amounts of time in space.
Posts: 1001 | Registered: Mar 2006
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And it's much better to do this to a few mice in an controlled environment than on the first colonization mission to Tatooine.
Posts: 433 | Registered: Feb 2005
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