A third of us would go one way to Mars – but that could reduce your brain

New Scientist asks the public revealed that 40% of men want to go to Mars, but new evidence suggests that the long trip may be bad for your brain

Nisian Hughes / Getty

By Clare Wilson

Many people would consider doing a one-way mission to Mars, according to the 2018 poll by New Scientist Asks the Public. But new evidence suggests that the long journey may be bad for the part of your brain involved in forming memories.

The August Sapio Research survey of a representative sample of 2,026 British adults found that 50% of men and 30% of women would be happy to return to Mars. For one-way trips, 40% of men said they definitely or probably wanted to leave, compared with 20% of women.

This is despite the known physical risks that the six-month trip to Mars would involve. In addition to space flight accidents, high exposure to cosmic ray radiation could lead to damage to DNA and cancer.

Publicity

And there may be other unforeseen dangers. A NASA study presented at the recent conference of the European Federation of Neuroscience Societies in Berlin, Germany, suggests that a two-year mission with a handful of teammates could damage the brain.

The study involved 16 volunteers performing 30-day stays in a simulated Mars base, with only three other people for their company. At the end of the study, participants showed a slight narrowing of a cerebral area called hippocampus, consisting of sausage-shaped structures essential for the formation of new memories.

The study found that an end of the left hippocampus of volunteers – known as the head of the line – had decreased by about 3% on average.

Anika Werner, a member of the team at the University of Charity Medicine – Berlin, suggests that this decrease could be due to social isolation and the stress of 24-hour supervision. exercise six days a week, so that it is unlikely that the effect was caused by inactivity.

Brain in plastic

The effect it could have on a person's mental abilities is unclear. The seahorse helps us find our way, but the navigation skills of potential astronauts have not been affected by computer tests during the study.

Hugo Spiers of University College London says that the head of the seahorse may be less important for navigation and more involved in using memories to guide other types of behavior. However, a longer study conducted by the same team, on nine people over winter in an Antarctic base, revealed that the hippocampus narrowing was related to poorer results in space suitability tests.

We do not know how the hippocampus of volunteers has decreased. This could be the death of brain cells, the lack of new cells generated, the loss of connections between cells or simply a reorganization of this area of ​​the brain.

Werner predicts, however, that all astronauts would recover after returning to Earth. "If you have these changes, they are very reversible. The brain is very plastic. But it's something that needs to be taken into account. "

Many studies have attempted to evaluate the health effects of possible future Mars missions, including those conducted at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. Niamh Shaw, who participated in a mock mission in 2017, will describe her New Scientist Live experience at ExCeL London on September 23rd.