Posted on 05/30/2018 9:29:30 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Mars will be a hard place to raise the children necessary to sustain a permanent colony there. And according to a new paper published in the June issue of the journal Futures, conceiving kids on Mars will be even harder.
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The biological challenges of rearing Mars babies are easy enough to wrap one's head around. For starters, Mars' atmosphere is about 1 percent as thick as Earth's, meaning the planet is hit by a lot more solar radiation than humans are currently used to. NASA studies have shown that radiation exposure might damage astronauts' brain cells and increase their risk of developing cancer. (More to the point of this new paper, it can also severely reduce sperm count.)
The effects of microgravity are also concerning. Mars' gravitational pull is about one-third as strong as Earth's, and that means less pressure and stress are exerted on astronauts' bodies. Nice as that sounds, it's not how human bodies have adapted to function; previous studies of microgravity have shown that astronauts experience vision loss, dehydration, accelerated muscle and bone deterioration, significantly reduced heart rates and even a weakened immune response when living in sub-Earth gravity.
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"The method of CRISPR makes possible adaptive genetic engineering," the authors wrote. "We should consider the idea of genetic human enhancement before and during that mission."
Doing so could literally result in a "new kind of human species" with a nature better suited for life on Mars, the authors wrote. Such human-made Martians could give a future colony its best shot at survival, even as a biological and moral gulf widens between them and their Earthling ancestors. Mars may still not be the kind of place to raise your kids — but it might become a serviceable place to raise Martians.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
More “we’re smarter than God” drivel from the usual sources.
The Robotech episode Goodbye Mars comes to mind.
The Mars base didn’t fare well.
I'll say...
Somebody else's brain cells have been damaged, too. If pilots and flight attendants are radiation workers how's it going to be any better on a planet with no magnetic field where one is exposed to cosmic radiation 24:37/7?
They did an truly kick ass version of “Mockingbird” though!
Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids.
In fact, it’s cold as hell.
I don't foresee any problems in that area. Put a male nerd engineer on Mars with a female nerd mathematician, with nothing to do except work and look for distractions. Pretty soon they will take care of the conception process. I consider that a good outcome. Genetic engineering? Why bother? They will figure out how to change their habitat to fit human needs faster than we can work out the complex biology challenges.
Without a doubt. Trips to the surface will be a treat of sorts, I suppose.
I’d have to meet this “Tara.”
Well, all this science....I don’t understand.
But that’s true on Earth, too.
Beside, Elvis got there first.
I think this is just a an article meant to get funding for research to change DNA. This would normally be abhorrent. But now they are trying to come up with a save the race excuse. By the way, the first thing they will do is produce blue eyes, blond hair and smart athletes while discarding lots of trial and error fetuses.
The reality is that humans can’t live 10 seconds outside on mars. So they will have to make structures humans can live in. And they will have to mine fuel and materials from the surface. Changing our DNA is not in the top thousand list of things to think about when contemplating human life on mars. And its not likely to go well anyway.
Ah, Tommy Kirk had no use for her, anyhow.
For starters, Mars' atmosphere is about 1 percent as thick as Earth's, meaning the planet is hit by a lot more solar radiation than humans blah blah blah blah blah
That tiny shred of atmosphere ONLY means that there's nothing for you to breathe. There's also poison in the soil. And the only way to survive there will be reliance on Earth's technology and largesse, and probably pharmaceuticals to keep you from losing your marbles when you're unable to leave the Habitrail or a space suit for decades on end.
Thanks BenLurkin.
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