The Book of the Year by Fish No Such Thing As A

Author:Fish, No Such Thing As A
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473553347
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2017-11-01T16:00:00+00:00

MICE, SPACE▶

Ten brave mousetronauts parachuted back to Earth.

America sent a squadron of 40 mice to the International Space Station (ISS) in June to test a new therapy designed to rebuild bone – part of a study into osteoporosis. The therapy could help sufferers on Earth and also astronauts, who suffer rapid bone loss due to the microgravity environment. Ten of the mice came back, parachuting into the Pacific. The good news was that they were the first mice NASA has ever sent up that made it back alive; the bad news was that, as part of the experiment, they were euthanised immediately on landing.

In Japan, researchers published a scientific paper describing their experiment that sent freeze-dried mouse sperm into space. They wanted to see how the higher levels of radiation affected it. As it turned out, it was fine – after nine months floating in a freezer on the ISS in 2013, the sperm was brought back and defrosted, and now over 70 mice have been bred from it.

Human DNA is slightly damaged in space by the sun’s radiation. The mouse DNA was slightly damaged too, but it still produced healthy ‘space pups’, which then had healthy babies themselves. It’s possible that the damaged DNA in the mouse sperm repairs itself when it meets the egg. Other mice sent up in 2011 showed early signs of liver disease, but scientists believed this could have been due to the stress of being sent into orbit.

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