US researchers have created the first 3D map of the microbes on the International Space Station, finding a lack of microbial diversity could be causing astronauts to get rashes, cold sores and other immune issues.

Summary from elsewhere

The International Space Station (|SS) has low microbial diversity, which could lead to astronaut health issues, according to a study published in Cell.

Researchers found that the microbial communities resemble those found in sanitized environments like hospitals rather than natural settings.

Co-senior study author Pieter Dorrestein explains that increasing microbial exposure could improve astronaut health during long-term space travel.

The study suggests incorporating natural elements, like soil, into the ISS to enhance microbial diversity and astronaut well-being.

The study in question:

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00108-4

  • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
    4·
    11 hours ago

    It’s a scary word to use, but humanity does need some form of eugenics for space travel.

    No, not the racial kind.

    We need to breed resistance to radiation and adaption to low oxygen or low gravity environments.

    We need to be able to be stuck in cramped quarters around other people for years without eventually killing each other.

    We need to be able to be cryogenically frozen for long periods of time and then reanimated.

    None of this is possible without fundamentally editing the genes of humans. We essentially need to evolve into a new species.

    • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
      4·
      11 hours ago

      I still think that’s trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. For biological humans to be able to explore the solar system, we need to advance in space-based manufacturing and AI control of those systems. Then there’s no more need for cramped spaces, for one. The AI can capture the appropriate asteroids, start towing them towards earth, and have a massive space shuttle ready to take on passengers when it arrives. Same for planetary accommodations, where the AI can set up everything before we arrive.

      Having to launch every single piece of material from out of the gravity well of earth is just not scalable or realistic.

      For us to be more than just tourists in our solar system, and especially before we get to other stars, I really think we need to sort out how to digitize human minds.

    • tiddy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      10 hours ago

      Or we could just like shield radiation, and provide oxygen/gravity.

      Relying on evolution for this sounds like it’d take a couple millennium longer than just like a spinning slab of concrete with a rebreather inside.