humans have gotten pretty good at living on Earth you could go outside right now in whatever you're wearing and be just fine probably even with the sun shining down on you at noon on a summer day a little sunscreen or long sleeves and a wide brimmed hat will go a long way to protect you from radiation so you'd think astronauts in space would be protected by those bulky space suits and Hearty ships right actually no but what if we could make humans better at living in [Music] space [Music] this i
s salt pepper wisdom the ultimate destination for Seekers of wisdom and lovers of cool facts today we're going on a journey full of Science and speculation to see how we might make humans better at Living In Space the radiation we're talking about takes the form of subatomic particles hurtling through space at high speeds some of it comes from our sun but it also comes comes from sources outside of our solar system in the form of cosmic rays when those particles reach us they can kill cells and
tear through our DNA that's not a figure of speech those particles can physically break apart the base pairs that make up our DNA dead cells can be a problem leading to things like heart disease and cognitive decline sometimes those cells can be repaired or replaced by the body but damage to our DNA can hinder that repair work and cause mutations in new cells those mutations can lead to cancer or the development of herit diseases the more radiation we're exposed to and the more damage is done to
our DNA the higher the risk of cancer that's why using sun protection is so important fortunately for those of us on Earth our planet's atmosphere and magnetic fields Shield us from the majority of the radiation 99.9% of it the average dose of radiation we get per day measures only 10 micr seats or one 100,000th of one se but in space on the moon and on Mars there's little to nothing between us and the cosmic rays data from the Mars rover Curiosity suggests that an astronaut would receive about
0.66 CS of radiation on a short Earth Mars round trip that's roughly the same as getting a full body CT scan every 5 or 6 days our cells and our DNA would be under constant attack and we would have nowhere to hide so what if we could condition our human bodies to withstand the hardships of space travel before we answer that question we at salt pepper wisdom want to say thank you for watching if you learn something new today hit the like button and subscribe for more frequent fun facts first we
can look to the space survival expert our good friend the tardy grade if you haven't met them yet check out our tardigrade video the link is in the description the thing about tardigrades is that they have unique physiological traits that allow them to survive some of the harshest conditions imaginable tardigrades are able to protect the cells of their bodies from harm including damage caused by radiation scientists have already sent T degrades into the vacuum of space and retrieved surviving sp
ecimens as we learn more about the tardigrades physiology we may find ways to borrow their superpowers researchers are already exploring the possibility of combining the DNA of tardigrades with human cells to make people more resilient against radiation one key to understanding how tardigrades and other Hardy species do the things they do is to isolate the genes unique to them George Church is a Harvard geneticist and a leading synthetic biologist he has identified over 70 genes that may help hu
mans fight disease decrease pain and better tolerate long-term space travel one gene called ctnnb1 specifically contributes to radiation resistance while another called dup helps tardigrades suppress damage to their DNA other genes help the body resist bone loss like SOS or make bones stronger like lrp5 a few genes like epas1 help organisms to live in higher altitudes with less oxygen radiation isn't the only part of space travel that's hard on the body living in isolation and in zero gravity fo
r long periods of of time takes a physical and mental toll on astronauts with a wide variety of useful genes to work with we could help future space Travelers protect their health from several different angles cool idea right so how do we get there we are still several years away from editing genes in human beings scientists are observing the effects of these genes in mice pharmaceutical companies hope to use this research to help humans resist cancer and fight the effects of aging on the body a
nd mind if gene therapy as a treatment is already in the works then Gene therapy as preventative medicine may be close behind astronauts could use these genes to start fortifying their bodies for space travel long before they ever leave the ground let's take this idea a few steps further if we want to start living on other planets fulltime we could consider creating an entirely new kind of human geneticist Chris Mason has proposed a 500-year plan to create humans that are better suited to coloni
ze space there are three main components of this plan first we need to identify which human genes we need to to leave alone because they're necessary for our survival second we need to engineer new microbes what are the microbes for check out our video about the human microbiome finally we need to learn which genes to add delete or modify to create permanent changes that can be inherited by the entire population of New humans centuries from now there may be people who can go outside on Mars in w
hatever clothes they're wearing and be perfectly fine probably there are still many many unanswered questions baked into this line of thinking developing the technology and understanding the science are only half the battle there are ethical concerns involved in genetic engineering especially once you make the leap from lab mice to human test subjects there are philosophical questions about what makes a human a human there are social questions that would arise if we create a second kind of human
it's impossible for us in the present to know the answers or even all of the questions that we'll come across as we head further into space it's going to take time cooperation collaboration and open minds to carry us to the Stars hey thanks again for tuning in to salt pepper wisdom leave us a like and comment below to tell us what you think future humans will be like we hope you'll subscribe and hit that Bell button so our next exciting video finds you as soon as it lands your support means the
world to us and it helps us to continue creating quality content for you goodbye for now and love to all the earthlings spread kindness spread wisdom and be safe
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