Long-term galactic cosmic ray exposure leads to dementia-like cognitive impairments

[TexasTowelie]

What happens to an astronaut's brain during a mission to Mars? Nothing good. It's besieged by destructive particles that can forever impair cognition, according to a UC Irvine radiation oncology study appearing in the May 1 edition of Science Advances.

Charles Limoli and colleagues found that exposure to highly energetic charged particles -- much like those found in the galactic cosmic rays that bombard astronauts during extended spaceflights -- cause significant damage to the central nervous system, resulting in cognitive impairments.

"This is not positive news for astronauts deployed on a two- to three-year round trip to Mars," said Limoli, a professor of radiation oncology in UCI's School of Medicine. "Performance decrements, memory deficits, and loss of awareness and focus during spaceflight may affect mission-critical activities, and exposure to these particles may have long-term adverse consequences to cognition throughout life."

For the study, rodents were subjected to charged particle irradiation (fully ionized oxygen and titanium) at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory at the Brookhaven National Laboratory before being sent back to Limoli's Irvine lab.

Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150501151608.htm

[-none]

1. It is all part of the plan to prevent us from contaminating the rest of the universe as we are doing

to our own planet. We are far from civilized enough.

[damyank913]

2. Bad news for Mars...

...somebody's gotta bring freedom and democracy to the poor inhabitants.

[progressoid]

3. yup...

[RussBLib]

4. apparently us earthbound humans are also susceptible

maybe dementia is caused by cosmic rays? sounds like we are teetering on the edge of woo-ness, but I won't rule it out as a possible cause of dementia.