Latest news with #RodolfoSalido
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
International Space Station too clean, say scientists
The International Space Station (ISS) is too clean and should be made dirtier to keep astronauts healthy, scientists have advised. Space agencies have strict sterilisation protocols, with equipment and modules built in sealed-off clean rooms and astronauts forced to isolate before venturing into orbit. However, a new study by the University of California suggests that such extreme disinfection may be doing more harm than good. Astronauts often experience immune dysfunction, skin rashes, and other inflammatory conditions while travelling in space, which has largely been put down to the impact of microgravity. But researchers suspected it could also be due to a dearth of helpful microbes. To find out, they asked ISS astronauts to swab 803 different surfaces aboard the Space Station and bring the bacterial specimens back to be studied on Earth. Compared with most of the Earth samples, the ISS surfaces had far fewer microbes, and were particularly lacking in environmental bugs usually found in soil and water. Researchers say that intentionally incorporating more microbes into the ISS could improve astronaut health without sacrificing hygiene, similar to how gardening can boost the immune system. Prof Rob Knight, director of the Centre for Microbiome Innovation at the University of California, San Diego, said: 'There's a big difference between exposure to healthy soil from gardening versus stewing in our own filth, which is kind of what happens if we're in a strictly enclosed environment with no ongoing input of those healthy sources of microbes from the outside.' Many clinicians and scientists now believe that modern cleanliness damages the immune system, and is driving the increase in allergies, a theory dubbed the hygiene hypothesis. But space travel is even more scrupulously clean, with agencies keen not to transport bugs into space where there are no medical teams on hand to help sick astronauts. Although the ISS is due for decommission by the end of the decade, new orbiting modules, including the Lunar Gateway, are expected to be built in the coming years. With Nasa's Artemis programme, astronauts will also be returning to the Moon to live on the lunar surface for extended periods. 'Future built environments, including space stations, could benefit from intentionally fostering diverse microbial communities that better mimic the natural microbial exposures experienced on Earth, rather than relying on highly sanitised spaces,' said Dr Rodolfo Salido, of the Knight Lab, at UC San Diego. 'If we really want life to thrive outside Earth, we can't just take a small branch of the tree of life and launch it into space and hope that it will work out. 'We need to start thinking about what other beneficial companions we should be sending with these astronauts to help them develop ecosystems that will be sustainable and beneficial for all.' The team found that overall, human skin was the main source of microbes throughout the ISS. They also found that different modules or rooms within the ISS hosted different microbial communities and chemical signatures, and these differences were determined by the module's use. For example, dining and food preparation areas contained more food-associated microbes, whereas the space toilet contained more urine- and faecal-associated microbes and metabolites. 'We noticed that the abundance of disinfectant on the surface of the International Space Station is highly correlated with the microbiome diversity at different locations on the space station,' said co-first author Dr Nina Zhao, of UC San Diego. In the future, the researchers hope to be able to detect potentially dangerous microbes and signals of human health from environmental samples. The research was published in the journal Cell. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
27-02-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
International Space Station too clean, say scientists
The International Space Station (ISS) is too clean and should be made dirtier to keep astronauts healthy, scientists have advised. Space agencies have strict sterilisation protocols, with equipment and modules built in sealed-off clean rooms and astronauts forced to isolate before venturing into orbit. But a new study by the University of California suggests that such extreme disinfection may be doing more harm than good. Astronauts often experience immune dysfunction, skin rashes, and other inflammatory conditions while travelling in space, which has largely been put down to the impact of microgravity. But researchers suspected it could also be due to a dearth of helpful microbes. To find out, they asked ISS astronauts to swab 803 different surfaces aboard the Space Station and bring the bacterial specimens back to be studied on Earth. Compared with most of the Earth samples, the ISS surfaces had far fewer microbes, and were particularly lacking in environmental bugs usually found in soil and water. Researchers say that intentionally incorporating more microbes into the ISS could improve astronaut health without sacrificing hygiene, similar to how gardening can boost the immune system. Prof Rob Knight, director of the Centre for Microbiome Innovation at the University of California, San Diego, said: 'There's a big difference between exposure to healthy soil from gardening versus stewing in our own filth, which is kind of what happens if we're in a strictly enclosed environment with no ongoing input of those healthy sources of microbes from the outside.' Many clinicians and scientists now believe that modern cleanliness damages the immune system, and is driving the increase in allergies, a theory dubbed the hygiene hypothesis. But space travel is even more scrupulously clean, with agencies keen not to transport bugs into space where there are no medical teams on hand to help sick astronauts. Although the ISS is due for decommission by the end of the decade, new orbiting modules, including the Lunar Gateway, are expected to be built in the coming years. With Nasa's Artemis programme, astronauts will also be returning to the Moon to live on the lunar surface for extended periods. 'Future built environments, including space stations, could benefit from intentionally fostering diverse microbial communities that better mimic the natural microbial exposures experienced on Earth, rather than relying on highly sanitised spaces,' said Dr Rodolfo Salido, of the Knight Lab, at UC San Diego. 'If we really want life to thrive outside Earth, we can't just take a small branch of the tree of life and launch it into space and hope that it will work out. 'We need to start thinking about what other beneficial companions we should be sending with these astronauts to help them develop ecosystems that will be sustainable and beneficial for all.' The team found that overall, human skin was the main source of microbes throughout the ISS. They also found that different modules or rooms within the ISS hosted different microbial communities and chemical signatures, and these differences were determined by the module's use. For example, dining and food preparation areas contained more food-associated microbes, whereas the space toilet contained more urine- and faecal-associated microbes and metabolites. 'We noticed that the abundance of disinfectant on the surface of the International Space Station is highly correlated with the microbiome diversity at different locations on the space station,' said co-first author Dr Nina Zhao, of UC San Diego. In the future, the researchers hope to be able to detect potentially dangerous microbes and signals of human health from environmental samples. The research was published in the journal Cell.
The Guardian
27-02-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Space station's lack of dirt may damage astronauts' health, says study
Excessive cleanliness is not generally regarded as a downside when it comes to travel accommodation. However, scientists have concluded that the International Space Station is so sterile that it could be having a negative impact on astronauts' health and have suggested making it 'dirtier'. The study found that the ISS is largely devoid of environmental microbes found in soil and water that are thought to beneficial to the immune system. The lack of microbial diversity could help to explain why astronauts often experience immune-related health problems such as rashes, cold sores, fungal infections and shingles. In future, putting these microbes in space stations could improve astronaut health without sacrificing hygiene, the researchers advised. 'Future built environments, including space stations, could benefit from intentionally fostering diverse microbial communities that better mimic the natural microbial exposures experienced on Earth, rather than relying on highly sanitised spaces,' said Rodolfo Salido of the University of California, San Diego and a co-author of the paper. The researchers collaborated with astronauts who swabbed 803 different surfaces on the ISS. Back on Earth, they identified which bacterial species and chemicals were present in each sample. Overall, human skin was the main source of microbes throughout the ISS, although the prevalence varied across different areas of the station. The dining and food preparation areas contained more food-associated microbes, whereas the space toilet contained more urine – and faecal-associated species. Compared with most of the Earth samples, the ISS surfaces were lacking in free-living environmental microbes that are usually found in soil and water. Prof Rob Knight, a microbiologist at the University of California San Diego and a senior author on the paper, said: 'There's a big difference between exposure to healthy soil from gardening versus stewing in our own filth, which is kind of what happens if we're in a strictly enclosed environment with no ongoing input of those healthy sources of microbes from the outside.' Chemicals from cleaning products and disinfectants were present ubiquitously throughout the station. The ISS was most similar to Earth samples from industrialised, isolated environments, such as hospitals, according to the paper, which has been published in the journal Cell. 'If we really want life to thrive outside Earth, we can't just take a small branch of the tree of life and launch it into space and hope that it will work out,' said Salido. 'We need to start thinking about what other beneficial companions we should be sending with these astronauts to help them develop ecosystems that will be sustainable and beneficial for all.' Dr Odette Laneuville, a biologist at the University of Ottawa who was not involved in the research, said: 'The environment is important for the immune system because it sense constantly those pathogens and it triggers a response or not.' However, she said caution would be required when considering intentionally seeding a space environment with microbes from Earth. 'I don't want parasites and fungi up there,' she added.
