Free Republic

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are plagued by persistent rashes, unusual allergies and a variety of infections, including fungi, cold sores and shingles. Researchers now think they know why: The orbiting lab doesn’t have enough germs. Bacteria typically found in or on the body arrive in space with their human hosts, but the array of free-living microbes found on Earth—in soil and water—is lacking. This kind of microbial imbalance has been linked to chronic inflammatory diseases, and scientists hypothesize that cultivating a diverse set of microbes on the ISS—and the station’s eventual replacement—could improve astronaut health. “There’s a big...