An international team of scientists found that astronauts who spent almost half a year in space had a brain change
Astronauts brain reprogrammed after space flight / Photo: NASA
Such changes were able to fix scientists from Drexel University in Philadelphia, USA, within a few months after the astronauts returned to Earth.
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The researchers noticed changes in neural connections between several motor areas of the brain, writes Forbes.
Using a brain imaging technique, the researchers performed MRI scans of 12 astronauts from the European Space Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos.
Scientists also found physical changes in the corpus callosum – part of the brain that connects the two hemispheres of the body and serves as a “communication network”.
Due to space travel and being in orbit, this area has expanded, although it’s just a change of shape, not a real structural change, the researchers assured.
The reason is that in zero gravity, the astronaut needs to radically adapt his propulsion strategies compared to the Earth, and because his brain is reprogrammed.
In total, the NASA program has identified several major risks that astronauts may face as a result of a long stay in space:
- increased exposure to radiation, which can cause cancer or other serious health problems;
- isolation and confinement, which can affect their mood and potentially cause sleep disturbances and stress;
- nutritional deficiencies due to lack of fresh food;
- distance from Earth, which would require astronauts to manage any health emergencies on their own;
- changing gravitational fields that can affect the heart, bones and muscles – astronauts who spend 5 to 11 days in space can lose 20% of their muscle mass;
- a dangerous environment in which germs are more easily transmitted from person to person, stress levels increase and the immune system can change.
Especially acute with these problems astronauts can encounter in the event of a trip to Mars.
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Source: Segodnya
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