Can astronauts’ bodies actually survive Mars missions? - Tech & Science Daily podcast

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As the likes of Elon Musk continue to promote their grand plans to one day send humans to Mars, new research suggests that how human organs react to being in space could put a spanner in the works.

A team of researchers led by University College London (UCL) found that both human and animal kidneys are remodelled by the conditions in space, with specific parts of the organs showing signs of shrinkage after less than a month off-planet.

Keith Siew, a senior research fellow at UCL, who’s been involved with the research tells Tech & Science Daily how conditions in space affect the kidneys.

He explains how radiation is another risk factor for astronauts spending long periods of time in space.

A survey suggests one in five children in the UK get their political news from TikTok - and more than 70% can’t name their local MP.

Opinium surveyed 2,000 eight to 17 year-olds in February across England and Wales, and 39% said they don’t understand what politicians do.

It found that just over half said their family was a source of political information, 41% said television news, and 25% said they get their information from Youtube.

The survey was carried out ahead of a children’s vote before the General Election.

Approximately 80,000 are signed up to take part in the vote, set up by a coalition of organisations including Save the Children, Girlguiding, and Young Citizens, and results are expected to be announced on June 28th.

Scientists have discovered a brand new species of vegetarian piranha in a river in the Amazon, and have named it after the Lord of the Rings villain Sauron, due to a marking on its side.

The new species is a close relative of the piranha known as a Pacu, and it’s only found in the Xingu River, a tributary of the Amazon River.

In this episode, Simon Loader, the principal curator in charge of vertebrates at the Natural History Museum, describes this new species, and reveals just how many undiscovered animals are thought to exist in the Amazon.

Also in this episode:

• Man who lost four of his fingers fitted with ‘Hero Gauntlet’ by UK firm

• The Insect migration superhighway discovered in Europe

• Elon Musk confirms X will start hiding likes on posts

Listen above, find us on Apple, Spotify or wherever you stream your podcasts.

Here’s an automated transcript:

Hi, I'm Jon Weeks, and this is The Standard's Tech and Science Daily podcast.

Coming up, how Elon Musk is changing likes on X.

But first, we all know about the plans to one day send humans to Mars. But new research suggests how human organs react to being in space could put a spanner in the works.

So things like your reproductive tract, your intestines, kidneys, other visceral organs, we haven't really looked at those, and we're particularly concerned about those organs that have a regenerative capacity.

So your stomach lining is constantly replacing, your skin is constantly being shed, bone marrow or stem cells that create your blood, or those that don't have regenerative capacity like the kidney, the heart and the brain.

We're particularly concerned about them because you're gonna be exposed to quite significant amounts of radiation on a trip into deep space.

That's Keith Siew, a senior research fellow at University College London, who's been involved with research into how kidneys specifically cope in space.

We've known for a while that astronauts get kidney stones. What's been a little bit less clear is exactly how and why they get them. It's been mostly attributed to the bone loss you see in space. You lose about 1% bone mass per month. But we found that there might be the kidney itself changing structure and function, and that might be contributing towards it. So that's one of the main findings of our paper.

A team of researchers led by UCL found that both human and animal kidneys are remodelled by the conditions in space with specific parts of the organs showing signs of shrinkage after less than a month off planet.

And Keith said another huge risk factor for the human body in space is the radiation we're normally protected from here on Earth.

Looking at galactic cosmic radiations, this is exotic space radiation that you get. That 1% of it's made up of atoms as big as iron traveling at the speed of light come from exploding stars in the galaxy going through your body. And this is particularly damaging to the kidneys. And we found in animals exposed to simulated galactic cosmic radiation that they were showing signs of dysfunction and damage.

One surprising fact that came from the research is that women appear to be better suited to deal with longer term deep space missions.

But Keith says we're not sure exactly why yet.

Some of the psychological studies have found actually, that's the more interesting stuff that if you're cooped up in a rocket for about nine months on a one way trip, an all female crew is going to get on much, much better than all males, they psychologically fare better.

In terms of the biology, we know there are things for example, like estrogen is somewhat protective for cardiovascular disease. And so cardiovascular implications might be less in women. The eyesight changes that we see, the blood pressure shifts, this difference is there. So exactly why it's happening, unclear, but it is.

A survey suggests one in five children in the UK get their political news from TikTok and more than 70% can't name their local MP.

2008 to 17 year olds were surveyed by Opinion in February in England and Wales. And 39% said they don't understand what politicians do.

It found that just over half said their family was a source of political information. 41% said television news and 25% said they get their information from YouTube.

The survey was carried out ahead of a children's vote before the general election.

80,000 are signed up to take part in the vote set up by a coalition of organizations, including Save the Children, Girlguiding and Young Citizens.

And results are expected to be announced on the 28th of June.

Scientists have discovered a brand new species of vegetarian piranha in a river in the Amazon and have given it a name inspired by a famous character by writer JRR.Tolkien.

It has this very distinctive vertical bar at the center of the fish that runs down and it essentially looks like the eye of Sauron in the movie The Lord of the Rings.

Simon Loader is the principal curator in charge of vertebrates at the Natural History Museum.

He said the new species is a close relative of the piranha known as a pacu and it's only found in the Shingu River, a tributary of the Amazon River.

Simon told us how they know the fish has a vegetarian diet.

They have teeth that some people have described as being more, shall we say, human-like and that reflects the kind of variation of teeth that we have in our mouth.

So in these pacus, they have teeth that are shaped that allows them to process vegetable matter.

It's estimated 42% of the fish within the Amazon are unknown to science. And Simon said it's a big part of the Natural History Museum's work to find more undiscovered species.

There is an extraordinary number of species there. So you could imagine that there is a large number of species that await description. So whatever is there now, at least double it and if not a lot more. And specifically for things like piranhas, the work outlined in this study highlighted that lack of understanding and that there are many new species awaiting description.

Coming up, a man who lost four of his fingers is fitted with a hero gauntlet and Elon Musk confirms X will start hiding likes on posts.

Welcome back.

Researchers from the University of Exeter have recorded evidence of what's being called an insect migration super highway.

Using cameras and butterfly nets, they found over 17 million insects migrate each year through a single mountain pass on the border between France and Spain.

It's a 30 meter gap between two high peaks in the Pyrenees and the team visited the pass each autumn for four years, monitoring the vast number and variety of day flying insects heading south.

The migrating insects actually begin these journeys further north in Europe, including the UK, but the researchers warned that due to the climate crisis and habitat loss, they're thought to be declining.

A former lorry driver who lost all four fingers on his right hand in a work accident has been fitted with a new 3D printed bionic hand called a Hero Gauntlet by UK company Open Bionics.

52 year old Michael Alfime is the first person in the world to get the device outside of prototypes, which allows him to grip and hold things.

The Hero Gauntlet has 3D printed fingers which strap onto his palm and are controlled by Michael's wrist motion.

He said that he was able to hold a shopping basket with the Hero Gauntlet and use his other hand to load groceries. He also plans to use the device when fishing, going on bike rides and doing DIY.

And finally, Elon Musk has confirmed reports that his social platform X will start hiding likes on posts to help users protect their public image.

Reports suggest the social media giants would imminently start rolling out the change with the billionaire posting a link to one such report and confirming the change was incoming.

Mr. Musk said making them private was important to allow people to like posts without getting attacked for doing so.

You're up to date.

Come back at four o'clock and search for The Standard Podcast for the latest news and analysis.

We're back tomorrow afternoon at one.

See you then.