To Reach Mars, the Human Body May Need Some Updates

A long spaceflight can be perilous for earthlings. Scientists are working on some far-out solutions.


By Adam Minter


“If humans are ever going to get to Mars, we’ll need engineers to design new rockets and other hardware. Will we also need scientists who can alter our genes? In a provocative new book, Dr. Christopher E. Mason of Weill Cornell Medicine argues exactly that.


The problem, Mason says, is that human bodies are exquisitely adapted to life on Earth, and aren’t likely to hold up well during the long journeys required to settle the moon and Mars. One day soon, however, advances in genetics and medicine — such as the CRISPR gene-editing technology, or CAR T-cell therapies, in which immune cells are re-engineered to fight cancer — might be used to help astronauts better withstand the rigors of spaceflight.


Mason has been researching such issues for years. He led one of the teams chosen by NASA to study the impact of long-term space travel on identical twins Scott and (now Senator) Mark Kelly after the former spent a year on the International Space Station. Mason’s lab also specializes in cancer research. Both fields inform each other, and the long-term plan for human survival that Mason outlines in “The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds.” The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.”




Credits:hwww.bloomberg.com

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