Genetical adaptation to space

U

Uriel

Registered Member
Say that in a couple of decades we can genetically engineer people to adapt them to a certain enviroment. Space is certainly the most extreme enviroment and we are not exactly well adapted to it so if our future is "out there" we might have to make a few adjustments to our biology. For a permanent space colony it might be more efficient to adapt ourselves to the enviroment rather than making the colony as earth-like as possible

What adaptations would be necessary/useful and how could they be implemented? There are alot of dangers- zero-g, radiation, muscle and bone atrophication, limited life support supplies are pretty obvious ones but there might be others not so obvious. What other problems would we have to face?

What adaptations are feasible within the next hundred years or so to combat these problems? Could we for example construct a human being that can survive vacuum for a short period of time without serious injury?

Be creative and, above all, scientific. :)
 
In the distant future, the sun is predicted to eventually grow into a 'red giant' which would eventually consume the Earth. That said, for Human survival (and any other life form for that matter) it seems necessary to firstly be able to tranport life to another host planet or vessel and secondly be able to adapt to those conditions. Genetic manipulation is definitely the key.

One idea is to create sort of an exoskeleton for humans (yes, like insects) that would be able to withstand extreme external conditions, while also still being a true biological structure -- healing itself, etc. A friend of mine had this idea of creating a lung able to respirate under water... nice short term idea (maybe for population solutions). sorry, this aint too scientific Uriel...
 
well, the sun wont burn out for about 5 billion years...As the earths only 4.2 billion years and humans(in their present form) have been around for only what, a few hundred thousand years(?), I wouldnt worry about it...

Back to the point, you remember the aliens known as "greys"? Small limbs, big heads, they look pretty much adapted to space, my guess is without some kind of artificial gravity machine we would evolve into them should some type of long term journey in space be undertaken...
 
Well considering that fact if we ever are put in a situation like that its is alot more probable that we will adapt the situation to fit us and not adapt ourselves to fit the situation.
 
Originally posted by Uriel
Be creative and, above all, scientific. :)
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i'll be scientific then, or at least i will try.

the most efficient way to create a transgenic animal is to do it at an early stage. If you do it too late you have to change every single cell and there are just too many of them.

Then there are 2 options. We give the next generation a really good set of adaptations to space life. Or we do it very gradually with minor steps. Of course we have hardly got any idea how we can improve the human body to space right now because we hardly know how it works on earth.

Let us skip that 'minor' detail then for the sake of argument. We can assume that humans will be largley impatient in nature in the near future, just as they are now. We can therefore also assume that nobody really wants to be sensible and add minor changes to subsequent generations. Who wants to wait a few hundred years to see major effects after all?
That leaves us with inducing large changes in the genetic material in an zygote at a very early stage. And immediately we create a social problem. The next generation will not be like us at all. In all possibility this generation is forced to grow up in relative or complete isolation. We will have a generation gap we have never seen before. We will have problems we have never seen before. We might have a split in humanity we have never seen before. Are they human? Are they not human? Will this create a myriad of human species and a myriad of problems? Will we diversify and prosper or focus on isolation and conflict?
 
Originally posted by rexagan

One idea is to create sort of an exoskeleton for humans (yes, like insects) that would be able to withstand extreme external conditions, while also still being a true biological structure -- healing itself, etc. A friend of mine had this idea of creating a lung able to respirate under water... nice short term idea (maybe for population solutions). sorry, this aint too scientific Uriel... [/B]
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The lungs are already prerfectly adapted to breathe in water, only they can't pump enough water through them to pick up enough oxygen. The weight of the water is just too much. Remember you have to have the lungs filled with water and then compress the lungs with the muscles of the chest to pump the water back out. The energy that would be needed to do this would use up all the oxygen taken in to the body and more. Fish mamage to survive because water is pumped through the gills rather than in and out. If you want to survive under water for long periods of time you need gills or you need to start looking at seals, whales, dolphins etc.
 
Hmmm.... Evolution in space. I don't think that evolution in space would be a very relavent factor to the development of humans in space. Evolution requires selection. Where would the selection be if the environment would be artificially suited for humans? So lets say that there is some kind of selection......... would this selection give one person a distinct advantage over another (as far as reproducing goes) in an environment that would most likely be one where mate choice is as random (relative to animals in the wild) as it is now? Unless someone actively begins a breeding program, I don't see evolution changing us into anything much different. As far as genetics goes, well I think we have to first get over our fear of stem cell research and GMO's. I heard on the radio this morning that a researcher at John Hopkins has succesfully created mouse oocytes their stem cells.
 
We do fine in microgravity and we adapt ourselves quite well. Its just the adaptations prevent us from coming back to earth.

One question. Do you think a human woman would be possible of concieving and delivering a child in microgravity? (oooh.... microgravity kama sutra)
 
Do you think a human woman would be possible of concieving and delivering a child in microgravity? (oooh.... microgravity kama sutra)
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Yes, there may be some difficulties such as higher child death rate and perhaps some diseases. But it is definitely possible, and in fact the baby will be much better adapted for a microgravity environment. While it is a tiny fetus ot would not be developing as much muscle mass, so its heart and overall strength will be much weaker. Therefore baring a child in microgravity would render the child 'prisoner' (umm yes, wrong word) to space, for it will no longer be able to go back to earth because it would be too weak.

Personnally, I would LOVE to be a 'prisoner' of space. I'm probably more of a prisoner here on earth than I would be in space.:cool:
 
Payload in general and big structures in space are very expensive, so I would reduce the size, by having midgets to populate the final frontiers.
 
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