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Populating a Mars Base Will Be Dangerously Unsexy
livescience.com ^ | May 29, 2018 07:03am ET | Brandon Specktor,

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.

...

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.

"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 ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; blueorigin; elonmusk; falcon9; falconheavy; globalwarminghoax; homosexualagenda; mars; mediawingofthednc; nasa; partisanmediashills; presstitutes; science; smearmachine; spaceexploration; spacex
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To: BenLurkin
Why do you think Mars has mutants in the first place?


21 posted on 05/30/2018 9:51:24 AM PDT by Delta 21 (Build The Wall !! Jail The Cankle !!)
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To: BenLurkin

More “we’re smarter than God” drivel from the usual sources.


22 posted on 05/30/2018 9:53:07 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Snickering Hound

The Robotech episode Goodbye Mars comes to mind.

The Mars base didn’t fare well.


23 posted on 05/30/2018 9:53:22 AM PDT by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)
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To: BenLurkin
conceiving kids on Mars will be even harder.

I'll say...


24 posted on 05/30/2018 9:53:32 AM PDT by Magnum44 (My comprehensive terrorism plan: Hunt them down and kill them)
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To: BenLurkin
NASA studies have shown that radiation exposure might damage astronauts' brain cells and increase their risk of developing cancer.

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?

25 posted on 05/30/2018 9:59:49 AM PDT by pa_dweller (When we're truly living in 'Idiocracy' will we know it?)
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To: Magnum44

They did an truly kick ass version of “Mockingbird” though!


26 posted on 05/30/2018 9:59:49 AM PDT by j.argese (/s tags: If you have a mind unnecessary. If you're a cretin it really doesn't matter, does it?)
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To: BenLurkin

Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids.


27 posted on 05/30/2018 10:02:51 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: BenLurkin
Truth be told, I don't think it's so hot to bring people back from space exploration or extraterrestrials anyway. God only knows what they would be bringing down or what any disease we gave them would mutate into.
28 posted on 05/30/2018 10:03:25 AM PDT by j.argese (/s tags: If you have a mind unnecessary. If you're a cretin it really doesn't matter, does it?)
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To: dfwgator

In fact, it’s cold as hell.


29 posted on 05/30/2018 10:03:33 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: BenLurkin
conceiving kids on Mars will be even harder

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.

30 posted on 05/30/2018 10:14:09 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed")
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To: marron

Without a doubt. Trips to the surface will be a treat of sorts, I suppose.


31 posted on 05/30/2018 10:17:17 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin
It's worth noting there is only ONE inhabitant already...


32 posted on 05/30/2018 10:19:56 AM PDT by DoodleBob
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To: DownInFlames

I’d have to meet this “Tara.”


33 posted on 05/30/2018 10:20:10 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: Billthedrill; dfwgator

Well, all this science....I don’t understand.

But that’s true on Earth, too.


34 posted on 05/30/2018 10:21:19 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: j.argese
Those Nexus Replicants can be a real problem including Pris:
35 posted on 05/30/2018 10:22:31 AM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: robroys woman
Refer to Ren and Stimpy episode of Space Madness.
36 posted on 05/30/2018 10:22:59 AM PDT by gigster (Cogito, Ergo, Ronaldus Magnus Conservatus)
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To: Snickering Hound
Nope. Can't have her.

Beside, Elvis got there first.

37 posted on 05/30/2018 10:27:41 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

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.


38 posted on 05/30/2018 10:27:56 AM PDT by poinq
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To: BenLurkin

Ah, Tommy Kirk had no use for her, anyhow.


39 posted on 05/30/2018 10:29:10 AM PDT by kosciusko51
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...
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.

40 posted on 05/30/2018 10:32:36 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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