In Space No One Can Hear You Scream... So Don't You Get Sick There

  Don't you ever feel compelled to look up and just wonder what other worlds could space travel lead you to if you left our planet behind? Ever since ancient times man has been intrigued by the mystery of outer space. The discoveries of the last few decades have made it possible to travel hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from Earth, you know, even with computers dumber than your smartphone. So where does the complexity of space-travel lie?

Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr., the first American to fly in space, prepares for his Mercury Redstone 3 launch on May 5, 1961. (Photo credit: NASA)

   Since humans are just visitors in space, we must find a way to adapt to the environment of emptiness. Prolonged exposure to zero-G has a few negative side effects on the skeletal, muscular and circulatory system. Astronauts lose 1-5% of their bone mineral density every month, causing drastic osteoporosis on long-term space flights. In addition, living in microgravity for a few weeks causes 20% muscle mass loss, so as a means of prevention, space travelers must exercise regularly. Moreover, due to loss of gravity-induced hydrostatic pressure, 1,5-2 l of fluid moves from the lower to the upper part of the body, further reducing muscle mass in the legs. Another problem is decompression sickness, which may occur during space walks and can easily lead to joint pain, numbness or even death. Due to the rapid decrease in pressure during these walks, nitrogen in the bloodstream leaves the solution and forms bubbles. What's more, explosive decompression can cause ruptures or an ebullism (boiling of body fluids). Theoritically, the release of toxins like ammonia, freons, hydrazine and nitrogen tertoxide could result in serious damage. Furthermore, fast travel through different time zones leads to desyncronosys or jet lag, and consequently to insomnia. Radiative, neurovestibular and psychosocial stressors should also be put into perspective. 

1. Normal (left) and osteoporotic (right) bone. (Our skeleton isn't that inert, osteoblasts and osteoclasts change its structure dynamically.) 2. Cross sections of rat muscle show the effect of space-travel on muscles. (Top: Earth, bottom: Space; photo credit: NASA) 3. DSC results in nitrogen bubble between joint surfaces. 

 Routines and prevention. Those are NASA's tactics against emergencies. Astronauts are trained in various environments, roleplaying several situations and then reviewing their actions. One week before takeoff they are secluded and undergo several medical examinations. Plus, they have a protocol for most medical situations from a cough or pregnancy tests, to suicide crisis. Flight surgeons are the ones responsible for the crew's physical and mental health and their safety, they even take care of their families, so spacemen can be at ease and don't have to worry about family issues. They train with the crew, teach them medicine and help them if any problem occurs. Among the staff taken on longer flights there are members even more trained in the field of medicine.  

Flight Surgeon (FS) takes part in lunar simulation on Devon Island in the Arctic Ocean.

Cosmonaut undergoes a dental examination by medical officer Joseph Kerwin. No examination chair needed, the astronaut simply rotated his body to facilitate the procedure. (Photo credit: NASA)

 For the future of effective space missions the health of the crew must be maintained for longer periods. To achieve this, surgery in space should be improved, tools need to be lighter and more effective and new techniques must be developed. On one hand, any liquid in microgravity could easily contaminate the environment, and since drops fly around freely, it can even reach uncovered eyes or the mucousal membrane. This is also true for the sterile equipment used during surgeries. Additionally, zero gravity causes organs to move rather freely in the body, making them harder to locate. On the other hand, new surgery techniques are developed continuously, equipment is improved, benefitting rural areas and modern medicine.

One technique developed by Virtual Incision (VI), the company based in Lincoln, Nebraska, includes a fist-sized robot that may be able to perform abdominal laparoscopic surgery on astronauts. A camera on top of the robot provides information to a control station regulated by a surgeon using joysticks, guiding the two arms of the machine equipped with various tools to grab things, suture and cauterize wounds. 

Aqueous Immersion Surgical System (AISS) developed by the University of Kentucky and Carnegie Mellon (Pennsylvania) is a unique method for keeping blood from entering the airspace. “AISS is a transparent box that creates a watertight seal when it is placed over a wound and pumped full of sterile saline solution.” said George Pantalos, bioengeneering professor from Louisville. This astro-surgical tool holds the solution under pressure, so blood stays in the circulatory system. By changing the level of pressure it could be also used to recycle the patients' blood or to siphon it up. Tamás Haidegger, a bioengineer from Budapest, Hungary claims the AISS is going to be an essential device for future space missions. Since the only option now in case of serious emergency is to transport the patient back to Earth -an expensive and dangerous procedure- scientists are focusing on devices like the ones previously mentioned. With these new methods it won't be necessary for a doctor to be aboard the spacecraft, invasive procedures could be performed by teleoperated robots as well. 

"Beep bloop beep beep beep blooop!" -R2D2

 There are lots of innovations thanks to the rapid progression of space medicine (like CAT and MRI scanning, pacemakers and defibrillators). These new inventions in this field  help build a more fruitful future for medicine.  Just like we hope medisensor from Star Wars won't be fiction for that long and we can determine a patient's medical condition with just one smart device and a quick checkup, we also need to believe that the solution to the problems of today's medicine lies within our reach and not in a galaxy far, far away.

If you're further interested in this topic, check out these exciting articles on the website of the Space Medicine Association or the Space Safety Magazine.

What do you think the next difficulty is to be solved concerning human health during spaceflights?

Let me know in the comments!

How To Become The Best Spy Ever?

  After the NSA scandal let me tell you something; you could tap any NSA agent's phone calls any time. Even the FBI wouldn't be secure from your itching ears. Sounds compelling, right?

  Umwelt. The term starts to come into view in intellectual culture and what stands behind it is quite an unusual perspective. We, humans, are self-centred, it's not even a question. We were made to be the base of every scale describing nature yet we can only perceive a certain percentage of reality. Umwelt is the slice of the world a particular organism experiences. The rest is imperceptible... From the tiniest insects to the greatest mammals every being senses in different ways. It may make us feel uneasy to realise that what we experience every day isn't the full picture. Sight is a most important part of perception for us. It just takes a bunch of electromagnetic waves that bounces off objects and hits your retina stimulating your receptors and you see a quite beautiful spectrum, right? But in fact we process less than a 10 trillionth of the radiation that goes through our body. To give an instance, radio waves are partially used to communicate so there are thousands of phone calls passing through you yet you're perfectly unaware of it.

The EM spectrum's ratio to the visible range

  More interestingly our brain is great at recognising patterns and assigning meaning to data even if the incoming signal is made up of nothing but electrochemical impulses. Although the brain can't see, smell or hear by itself and just floats around in the liquor in your skull, in complete darkness and silence, the different ways it can sense is amazing. It's not objective, as we believe, nor does it grant us exclusive experience, however the plasticity of processing is impressive. I read an article a few years ago about a device that lets you see with your tongue (it's an electrode array which creates impulses based on light and dark pixels). Without a surgery this invention helps the blind regain optical sensation. Their cerebral cortex figures out what to do with the sensation of that champagne-like effervescence. It's not done consciously, it's too complicated for that.

Another fascinating device is made by David Eagleman, a neuroscientist from the USA, and his team. They made a vest for the deaf which produces different vibration patterns to different sound waves. After four days, and two hours of training daily, people could understand simple words and start to regain that part of their umwelt.

Check out this remarkable invention in practice!

  Well, that's truly amazing but we still use our accessible receptors and the obtainable cortexes of the brain. It doesn't count as a new sense, does it?

It's still not echolocation or magnetoception but we don't know the limits of these kind of sensory additions. Maybe it's not even about having completely brand new senses. We live in a world of information where it's physically impossible to be up to date in every aspect of life. Let's say you're a factory inspector. Now imagine you could just feel the state of your factory without constantly manually monitoring data. You would be able to tell what's wrong just by a strange vibe on your back. Wouldn't it be awesome to have the ability to feel the stats of your car on a long way instead of randomly stalling at a crossroad and not knowing what the matter is? 

  

  Maybe near future isn't about having new extensions for a bigger umwelt and more precise senses, but is being able to make a call without a phone that far away from now?

  Anyway, here are your promised 5+1 easy steps to become the spy you always wanted to be:

1. Have the required receptors to perceive VHF or UHF signals -- hardest step, I know, but most necessary
   Very High Frequency to Ultra High Frequency is the range you want to monitor EM waves in. It's the best if you have your enviable sensors in a protected area in your body. I bet it's quite vulnerable and of course you don't want anyone to notice your super spy pursuit, do you.
2. Learn to filter out unwanted noise -- you don't want recipes from Aunt Mary, you want Government secrets
   The key here is concentration. You have to find the way that works for you best. Try meditation, listen to classical music or just play Skyrim on easy mode.
3. Give yourself time!
   The brain has to figure out what to do with those signals. Don't rush, take your time. No one became a super spy in one day.
4. Practice is everything -- but don't stop when you get it right, go on until you can't get it wrong
   "There is no glory in practice, but without practice, there is no glory..."
5. Decide which agency you want to work for
   Here's Forbes' article about what to consider before accepting an offer.
6. Watch your back!
   Being James Bond isn't always that much fun! Learn from Batman and always have some backup plan for those nasty worst-case scenarios!

Let me know what you think in the comment section below!