ગે Sergei Ilnitsky / AFP / Getty Images
U.S. astronaut Jack Fisher smiled after a member of NASA’s medical staff wiped his face shortly after returning to Earth in a Russian Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan on September 3, 2017. Sergei Ilnitsky / AFP / Getty Images
- A new study examines the brains of eight Russian cosmonauts seven months after they returned from the International Space Station.
- His brain showed signs of new motor skills, but a little poor vision.
- For some space travelers, that transition lasts a long time.
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Imagine you can throw a full bullshit, but you have to wear glasses to do that. It is a trade-off when some planetary travelers may inadvertently get out of Earth.
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A study published on Friday examined the brains of eight male Russian cosmonauts about seven months after they returned from a long mission to the International Space Station. Researchers found slight changes in the brains of cosmonauts, which suggested that men were more skilled, but their vision was a bit weaker.
“They gained some kind of new motor skills, like riding a bike,” Steven Jillings, the study’s lead author, told Business Insider.
Researchers used a type of MRI to create 3D images of the brain of the universe. The scan showed an increased amount of tissue in the cerebellum: the part of the brain responsible for balance, coordination, and posture (shown in green in the video below). But scans have also shown that people living in space can end up having trouble seeing up-close. Both of those changes could potentially last longer.
Illustration using MR Tricks 3 by Stein Jillings and Ben Jerusen (University of Antwerp).
Changes in motor skills after space travel
Any human brain, whether it has been in space or not, can adapt to new environments and experiences. For example, many athletes acquire certain motor skills directly related to their sport.
“If you’re doing an MRI study, where you compare normal people to athletes or people who actually use motor skills like dart players, for example, you’ll hypothesize to find a change in the cerebellum,” Jillings said. “It’s not because they trained once and then it changes and goes back. This is really something that stays in the mind.”
On average, Russian cosmonauts spent six months on the space station in the study. Researchers expected to see temporary changes in the brains of cosmonauts, but they were surprised to learn that improved motor skills are still there many months after they returned to Earth.
“The difficulty in studying this cosmonaut is that you really have no context – there is nothing on earth that can be compared to it.” “It’s possible that when they go on their next mission they’re actually able to adapt more quickly.”
The brain migrates into space, potentially blurred vision
Many previous studies have shown that astronauts experience physiological changes in microgravity, including muscle and bone loss. Astronauts and cosmonauts on the ISS usually exercise more than two hours a day to cope with this process. They may experience instability or motion sickness when their body is contained in a weightless environment.
An important difference between life in space and on Earth is that our blood and bodily fluids usually move downwards under gravity, while the bodily fluids of astronauts move upwards.
A new study has found that microgravity also causes the brain to move upwards. This in turn redistributes floating fluid to the brain.
િસ Alexis Rosenfeld / Getty Images
Participants in a parabolic flight campaign perform a weightless exercise on October 16, 2019, at Bordeaux, France. Alexis Rosenfeld / Getty Images
Jillings said his study found evidence that fluid can pile up behind the eye, causing swelling. This can impair the close vision of astronauts, resulting in a condition called spaceflight-related neuro-ocular syndrome.
A 2012 survey found a similar effect in many NASA astronauts – 60% of those surveyed said they were looking less obvious on the ISS. NASA also flies prescription glasses into space in case the astronaut’s vision changes.
But Jillings said there’s still a lot to learn about the phenomenon, especially since not all astronauts or cosmonauts return to Earth with bad vision, and most astronauts have developed orthopedic vision in just one eye. Some regain their sight as soon as they return to Earth.
In addition, the beginnings of many Russian cosmonauts are very sharp, so even after they have completed a task in space, their vision is still normal compared to the average person.
“We mean the fact that we’re seeing small declines, it means there are some common effects in all people who spend six months in space,” Jillings said.
Scientists are still trying to determine the degree to which impaired vision can be fixed. An April study from the University of Texas found that astronauts’ brains continued to swell a year after returning to Earth. But Jillings said there is no long-term follow-up study to see how the condition progresses.
“There aren’t many studies examining astronauts’ brains,” he said.
Overall, Jillings added, the good news is that no serious health effects associated with space travel have been selected from his study. Previous studies, by contrast, suggest that radiation in space can lead to neurodegeneration, which can accelerate the development of Alzheimer’s disease in astronauts.
“We found no evidence of a harmful change in the brain,” Jillings said. “It’s really more adaptable.”
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