Life isn’t really supposed to occur in space, but that isn’t stopping humanity from reaching out into the cosmos. Part of that requires us to better understand mammalian development in space and researchers have just hit a minestrone and have grown a mouse embryo on the International Space Station.
00:00Life isn't really supposed to occur in space, but that is in stopping humanity from reaching out into the cosmos.
00:09And part of that requires us to better understand mammalian development in space.
00:13And researchers now say they've just hit a milestone and have grown a mouse embryo on the International Space Station.
00:19The researchers say that a trip to Mars will take more than six months, meaning at some time during that transit a human child could be conceived.
00:26Previous studies have found that microgravity isn't actually all that conducive to life, and there were significant negative effects related to weightlessness and embryonic development.
00:35During this most recent study, however, they were able to culture embryos in a microgravity environment, and they developed normally after returning to Earth.
00:43With the researchers writing, quote,
00:45This clearly demonstrated that gravity had no significant effect on the blastocyst formation and initial differentiation of mammalian embryos.
00:52Of course, there are more dangers in space aside from a lack of gravity, with the researchers noting that spacefarers are exposed to far more radiation than on Earth.
01:00This study also did not bring the embryos to term, meaning there are still myriad variables that need observation before a human child could be safely born off-world.
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