Mice in space and kept in artificial gravity experience no harm to reproduction
The uncertainty of science: Male mice who spent thirty-five days on ISS but within a centrifuge that created 1 g of artificial gravity apparently experienced no damage to their ability to reproduce.
This project team developed a habitat cage unit (HCU) capable of being installed in the Centrifuge-equipped Biological Experiment Facility (CBEF) on the ISS. The mice were placed under artificial gravity or microgravity (by centrifugation). After their return to Earth, they were compared with a “ground control” raised on the ground for the same 35-day period. (Fig.1)
The joint team found that: [1] The sperm production ability and the sperm fertilizing ability of the mice returned to Earth were normal, compared to the ground control and, [2] offspring of the mice sent to outer space was healthy and there were no effects on their reproduction ability from their parents’ stay in outer space.
While this study suggests that some form of artificial gravity can possible mitigate some of the risks to reproduction in space, there are so many unknowns that it at this point it leaves more questions than it answers.
- Would an artificial gravity less than 1 g accomplish the same thing?
- Would no gravity cause damage? According to the study, this is not yet known.
- What about insemination? Would it proceed with no problems in space?
- What about female reproduction? Will artificial gravity mitigate issues for them?
I could go on. I almost wish they had done this experiment first in zero gravity, to see its effects, before proceeding to an artificial gravity environment.
Nonetheless, these results do suggest that reproduction in space will be possible, as long as an artificial gravity of some kind is provided.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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The uncertainty of science: Male mice who spent thirty-five days on ISS but within a centrifuge that created 1 g of artificial gravity apparently experienced no damage to their ability to reproduce.
This project team developed a habitat cage unit (HCU) capable of being installed in the Centrifuge-equipped Biological Experiment Facility (CBEF) on the ISS. The mice were placed under artificial gravity or microgravity (by centrifugation). After their return to Earth, they were compared with a “ground control” raised on the ground for the same 35-day period. (Fig.1)
The joint team found that: [1] The sperm production ability and the sperm fertilizing ability of the mice returned to Earth were normal, compared to the ground control and, [2] offspring of the mice sent to outer space was healthy and there were no effects on their reproduction ability from their parents’ stay in outer space.
While this study suggests that some form of artificial gravity can possible mitigate some of the risks to reproduction in space, there are so many unknowns that it at this point it leaves more questions than it answers.
- Would an artificial gravity less than 1 g accomplish the same thing?
- Would no gravity cause damage? According to the study, this is not yet known.
- What about insemination? Would it proceed with no problems in space?
- What about female reproduction? Will artificial gravity mitigate issues for them?
I could go on. I almost wish they had done this experiment first in zero gravity, to see its effects, before proceeding to an artificial gravity environment.
Nonetheless, these results do suggest that reproduction in space will be possible, as long as an artificial gravity of some kind is provided.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
This is a good experiment but like you mentioned, it isn’t complete. The real answer we need to know is, “What is the minimal amount of gravity needed to keep humans healthy?” This test was performed at 1g. Let’s do it again at 0.5g, 0.25g, etc.
It just says their trip to space didn’t harm their sperm. It doesn’t say anything about copulation in space. Presumably, we already know the effects of microgravity of sperm in other travelers that have returned from space. What is the difference, if any, between the two?
I’m curious as to the disposition of the mice in the centrifuge. Were they strapped in or were they free to roam around? This is important because other studies have shown that artificial gravity that simulates bed rest is just as bad for the body as bed rest. So, also interested to know if they looked at things like bone density and cardiovascular health of the mice.
Wodun: My post included a link directly to the paper, which would answer your question.
Test moon gravity next! If it’s ok there, Mars should be fine.
No one cares about that experiment? The obvious experiment they can do is measure the bone mass and compare it with the base case. Are they the same, then ok, we solved the bone mass issue stopping us dead in our tracks to long term space exploration. BOOYAH!!
When I read this I immediately thought about Confinement Asteroid from Larry Niven’s Known Space series. Confinement was a hollowed out asteroid rotated to 1G. It’s purpose was to liberate the Belters, the settlers in the Asteroid Belt, from one of their last physical ties to Earth by providing a safe place for their women to give birth.
We need bigger facilities in space. huge in fact.