Image by NASA/Futurism Neuroscience/Brain Science
New research reveals that space travel can cause serious brain damage in five Russian cosmonauts. They spent several months on the International Space Station.
Scientists have long documented the negative effects of space travel, including weakening muscles and bones as well as worsened sight. The latest research published in JAMA Neurology Monday shows that orbital travel can also cause brain damage.
According to the study, five cosmonauts spent five-and-a-half months in orbit had elevated levels biomarkers that indicated brain cell damage. Blood tests were taken after they returned. Researchers don't know if these biomarkers can also be indicative of brain function changes, but they know it is a negative sign for their health.
Henrik Zetterberg, a senior coauthor of the study and University of Gothenburg neuroscience scientist, stated in a press release that this is the first time that blood tests have shown clear evidence of brain-cell damage following space flight. Space travel must continue to be explored and stopped if it is to become more common.
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Zetterberg said that he hopes his research will lead to new treatments that can reverse or prevent any problems caused by space travel. He and others must do more research to find out what is causing this problem.
Zetterberg stated in the release that we need to work together to understand why damage occurs. It could be weightlessness, brain fluid changes, stressors related to launch and landing or something else. There are many exciting experiments that can be conducted on Earth to study the effects of humans on other organisms.
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