Man Has Invented His Doom/First Step Was Touching the Moon

Science reveals grim truth: germs sent out into orbit return--as wacky, koo-koo super germs, packed with extra deadliosity. USA Today chills our blood:

Researchers placed identical strains of salmonella in containers and sent one into space aboard the shuttle, while the second was kept on Earth, under similar temperature conditions to the one in space.

After the shuttle returned, mice were given varying oral doses of the salmonella and then were watched.

After 25 days, 40% of the mice given the Earth-bound salmonella were still alive, compared with just 10% of those dosed with the germs from space. And the researchers found it took about one-third as much of the space germs to kill half the mice, compared with the germs that had been on Earth.

The researchers found 167 genes had changed in the salmonella that went to space.

Link from the invaluable Rational Review.

Bob Dylan warns against space travel (and stagnant pools); this germ news certainly gives further reason to avoid growing food on the Moon and eating it raw. 

Comments

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 1:01pm | #

Okay, have we seen anything supporting that in astronauts? Have they come back and demonstrated increased incidences of or more intense infections from disease?

Interesting that the mutation rate is higher. Is that solely attributable to increased radiation exposure? Hmmm.

negatore | September 25, 2007, 1:03pm | #

Can you say "Moonraker"? Sure, I knew you could.

VM | September 25, 2007, 1:04pm | #

ProGLib:
hier

JasonC | September 25, 2007, 1:05pm | #

Dylan reference. Nice.

Ralph Cramden | September 25, 2007, 1:06pm | #

@VM: To the moon, Alice.

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 1:07pm | #

VM,

I see you've been doing your Lifeforce research. Similar movie, different naked woman. And it has Gandhi instead of Picard.

Episiarch | September 25, 2007, 1:07pm | #

Uh, we already covered this in The Andromeda Strain.

Wait...that wasn't non-fiction? DAMN YOU MICHAEL CRICHTON

joe | September 25, 2007, 1:12pm | #

PL,

That wouldn't have happened, becasuse our astroauts go into space in a sterile environment or something close to it, not into space with salmonella lying around.

Episiarch | September 25, 2007, 1:13pm | #

It's okay; V'ger will come back and destroy us all anyway.

Drawn Asunder | September 25, 2007, 1:18pm | #

But do they taste any better?

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 1:19pm | #

joe,

Astronauts carry a whole host of bacteria and viruses into space in their innards.

Unless Nomad has sterilized them first. Sterilize!

JasonL | September 25, 2007, 1:19pm | #

I seem to recall a story about some cosmonaut who got stuck in orbit while Mother Russia was falling apart, and by the time he came down, he had some sort of horrific skin fungus.

Was that a movie or real life? I think David Hasselhoff was involved somehow, but alas, that doesn't help make the distinction ...

The Wine Commonsewer | September 25, 2007, 1:20pm | #

My mother told me that algae floating on stagnant water in drainage ditches would give me polio. But this, well THIS NEW space bugs is bound to spawn a bunch of 1950's style horror movies.

SugarFree | September 25, 2007, 1:20pm | #

Episiarch,

YOU HAVE UTTERED THE MOST FOUL NAME IN SF!

BANNED FOR THREE TURNS!

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 1:20pm | #

Well, there's always that guy who melted.

J sub D | September 25, 2007, 1:22pm | #

That wouldn't have happened, becasuse our astroauts go into space in a sterile environment or something close to it, not into space with salmonella lying around.

Y'know, like hospitals.

Oddball | September 25, 2007, 1:22pm | #

Always with the negative waves around here. Sure, mutant space bugs will kill a few million, but a select few of us will catch diseases that give us super powers.

Umbriel | September 25, 2007, 1:23pm | #

It's hardly sterile up there, joe. Not on our spacecraft, and certainly not on the old Mir station:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/not_in_website/syndication/monitoring/media_reports/1209034.stm

I recall some interviews with US astronauts who'd been on Mir, and said it smelled a lot like a gym locker. I'm not aware of any fatal cases of athlete's foot, though...

thoreau | September 25, 2007, 1:24pm | #

I don't know whether space travel will lead to mutant superpowers or total destruction by mutant germs, but I do know that it will be best if we let the market decide.

DEMAND KURVE!!!!!!!!!!!

:)

Episiarch | September 25, 2007, 1:25pm | #

YOU HAVE UTTERED THE MOST FOUL NAME IN SF!

When did I say "Piers Anthony" at all?

SugarFree | September 25, 2007, 1:30pm | #

Touche.

J sub D | September 25, 2007, 1:30pm | #

YOU HAVE UTTERED THE MOST FOUL NAME IN SF!

When did I say "Piers Anthony" at all?

Ahem, L. Ron __________. Name one SF author fouler. I dare you.

Uh-Oh | September 25, 2007, 1:31pm | #

It's already begun;
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/in-peru-a-crater-and-questions/?hp

Episiarch | September 25, 2007, 1:37pm | #

Well, you would have to consider L. Ron a sci fi writer, which I do not. I consider him to be insane, and not in the good Philip K. Dick way.

joe | September 25, 2007, 1:38pm | #

Pro Lib,

Astronauts carry a whole host of bacteria and viruses into space in their innards.

Where they are constantly kept under control by the astronaut's immune systems, as opposed to being in a culture designed to promote their unimpeded growth.

J sub D,

Yes, as opposed to hospitals. Where on earth did you get the idea that hospitals are sterile? Other ways that the Space Shuttle is unlike a hospital: the absence of sick people, the total population of about 4.

Umbriel,

True enough, but our own space shuttles, where American astronauts spend most of their time, are brought down and sterilized more than a permanent orbitting platform, are going to be quite cleaner.

Episiarch | September 25, 2007, 1:46pm | #

Uh, joe, we've already geek threadjacked this thread for bad SF, so you'd better get on board.

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 1:46pm | #

joe,

Then we can avoid a host of space-borne illnesses by not sending cultures into space? Well, problem solved!

I just hope that the astronauts don't sneeze, exhale, or surrender their precious bodily fluids during flights, allowing bacteria and viruses to escape into the cockpit, and resulting in death for many and super powers for some.

Jonathan Hohensee | September 25, 2007, 1:51pm | #

I hope I get something pratical like instant transportation, and none of this "super strenght"/"flying"/"x-ray vision" bullshit that wouldn't be that useful in real life..

SugarFree | September 25, 2007, 1:57pm | #

You first have to separate out the things that L. Ron actually wrote and had ghost-written... nah, it's all shit.

As for an SF author that is a throughly bad writer, in the technical sense, and is praised fairly consistently, I'd have to go with E. E. "Doc" Smith.

Anyway, my annoyance with THAT FOUL CREATURE has to do with the public's acceptance of him as "spokesperson" for SF and his work being the main interface for non-genre readers. That and the whole "Time Line? Why didn't someone think of writing a novel about time travel before?" phenomenon. It's like judging all of American cuisine by having a meal at Hardee's.

ChrisO | September 25, 2007, 1:59pm | #

So, it turns out that space herpes is real?

Bronwyn | September 25, 2007, 2:00pm | #

As a microbiologist, I should weigh in on this, but... meh.

Taktix® | September 25, 2007, 2:03pm | #

Dibs on the "talking to animals" power. Either that or the ability to control electricity...

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 2:16pm | #

Super strength and flying have no use? Ah, you lack imagination, Grasshopper. Especially if the other key power--invulnerability--comes with the package.

JasonL | September 25, 2007, 2:20pm | #

I have this sneaking suspicion that talking to animals would kind of suck.

"Eat. Food. Smell food. Mmm butt smell."

Episiarch | September 25, 2007, 2:27pm | #

"Superman, what do we do?"

"Wonder Woman, go brief the President. Batman, go get the rest of the SuperFriends. Aquaman...you go talk to some fish."

(all erupt in laughter)

Episiarch | September 25, 2007, 2:30pm | #

SugarFree, I hate to be serious but Crichton is a very interesting writer. He isn't really SciFi, he is more "near SciFi" or "tomorrow fiction". He writes about stuff that is very close or possible, but still speculative. I have never considered him real SciFi like a Bradbury or Matheson or Brin.

VM | September 25, 2007, 2:36pm | #

Bronwyn | September 25, 2007, 2:00pm | #
As a microbiologist, I should weigh in on this, but... meh.

a wise policy!

VM | September 25, 2007, 2:37pm | #

(whoops)

forgot the: "a wise policy. and good advice! cheers!"

Stevo Darkly | September 25, 2007, 2:44pm | #

Whatever you do, do NOT leave an opened jar of mayonnaise to float around about a space craft.

Unless all the astronauts on board are hot space babes in silver space-thong bikinis. Then erotic hilariousness ensues!

VM | September 25, 2007, 2:50pm | #

*takes magazine and heads to Stevo's zero gravity chamber*

SugarFree | September 25, 2007, 2:52pm | #

Episiarch,

I hate you being serious too.

The term you are looking for (coined by Bruce Sterling) is "slipstream fiction."

I don't think much of Crichton as a writer, because I refuse to engage him as a "mainstream writer who writes in SF," but rather as "a poor writer of SF who is inexplicably popular." He's always 15 years behind and praised as being a visionary. It bugs me. Although, I think if the overculture didn't constantly identify him as an SF genius, the enbuggenning would eventually fade.

As for popularized SF, have you ever read any Robert J. Sawyer? For working in the same thought-spaces as Crichton, I think he does a much better job of it. (His gentle, Canadian liberalism can be irritating for those who cannot turn off their politics while reading fiction. Not that I'm suggesting that about you.) I'd start with his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy.

joe | September 25, 2007, 2:55pm | #

Episiarch,

In space, no one can hear you troll.

ray | September 25, 2007, 2:59pm | #

It took 25 days to kill the mice? That's not a very powerful 'super-bug.' I once put four mice in a cage with a large Rat Snake. After 25 minutes, all the mice were dead. I guess I had a super snake! Who knew?

Episiarch | September 25, 2007, 2:59pm | #

joe, if you'd get on board (the spaceship) there would be air and then you could hear just fine.

VM | September 25, 2007, 3:02pm | #

We looked at the trap, Ray.

Episiarch | September 25, 2007, 3:05pm | #

I think your hate of TEH CRICHTON is misplaced. He does some pretty entertaining work with some research thrown in.

As an insatiable reader as a kid I read tons of SciFi and I wasn't overly discriminating, because that would have seriously reduced my available reading material (I used to read 3-4 books at a time so that if my parents took 1 or more away I could switch to another).

As I have gotten older, I have become more particular and therefore have been using my very limited reading time to cover authors I know I love like Richard Matheson, Heinlein, Brin, etc. Thanks for the recommendation.

I wish I could return to those glory days of devouring tons of SciFi but it just ain't gonna happen.

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 3:07pm | #

VM,

What are the implications here on the Lunar Sex Prize? Will our geeky astronaut hordes be infected by some sort of super space STD? Is there, after all, a flaw in our plan?

ray | September 25, 2007, 3:11pm | #

We are the MicroBorg. Viral resistance is futile.

Captain Singapore | September 25, 2007, 3:21pm | #

Obviously, we must go into space and mutate ourselves... to keep up with the germs...

Geeks don't have sex-- therfore, no STDs

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 3:25pm | #

Captain Singapore,

Yes, that's the whole point of the Lunar Sex Prize. Offer geeks with rocket science capabilities the opportunity to have relations with Salma Hayek (or functional equivalent) if they can get to the Moon and back without government assistance. Since we'll be providing them with an otherwise improbable opportunity, STDs from space are a real risk.

SugarFree | September 25, 2007, 3:29pm | #

Episiarch,

My mother didn't take books away, but was a source of constant interruption. Reading fast and the ability to block out all external stimuli while reading were valuable skills I never lost. The Wife and I are DINK librarians, so the weekends where the weather rules out disc golf are wall-to-wall reading. We have so many books that no one sane would ever help us move. (Through vicious weeding, I keep my SF down to less than 1000.)

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 3:36pm | #

My home library is now in the thousands, much to the chagrin of my lovely and talented wife.

joe | September 25, 2007, 3:36pm | #

Little help here.

Did Episiarch miss my sci-fi reference, or did I miss his?

I suspect the latter.

Urban Centurion | September 25, 2007, 3:40pm | #

Aren't salmonella tiny salmon? I like 'em smoked to that perfect, rich, orangy-pink color.

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 3:41pm | #

I watched Alien and heard plenty o' screamin'.

Episiarch | September 25, 2007, 3:44pm | #

Did Episiarch miss my sci-fi reference, or did I miss his?

Alien. I was just continuing the "all your threads are belong to us" theme.

All Your Base Libertate | September 25, 2007, 3:56pm | #

Someone set up us the germ.

joe | September 25, 2007, 4:11pm | #

Aren't salmonella tiny salmon?

No, they're female salmon, Einstein. Get a load of this guy.





Jane Fonda was teh HOT in that movie.

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 4:19pm | #

Aliens had even more screaming, but that was mostly on the surface of a planet. Still, it's clear that people hear other people scream all of the time in space. Whether getting torn to pieces on a ship with someone else or hearing the screams over radio, hearing people scream in space is commonplace. If Hollywood is a good guide, anyway.

rds | September 25, 2007, 4:25pm | #

Excuse me, but why wasn't there a control group batch here on Earth exposed to the same amount of radiation, just to separate the variables?

SugarFree | September 25, 2007, 4:29pm | #

Actually, if you were out in the space and exposed to hard vacuum, then no one could hear you scream.

Although, screaming would be a good idea (exhaling keeps your lungs from bursting.)

THIS IS THE VIKING MOOSE | September 25, 2007, 4:37pm | #

ProGLib:

no consequences whatsoever. Pocket protectors also double as unbreakable space condoms!

joe - awesome Jane Fonda comment. LOL!!!

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 4:38pm | #

So the slogan for the movie should've been: "In space, no one can hear you scream. Unless you're in a ship with other people or your spacesuit has a radio. Or unless you're just totally alone."

I'm trying to remember one person screaming in a hard vacuum in Alien. I think they all screamed while on board their ship.

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 4:39pm | #

Ah, excellent news, Dr. Moose. Technology continues to amaze and confound me.

P Brooks | September 25, 2007, 4:43pm | #

"And the researchers found it took about one-third as much of the space germs to kill half the mice, compared with the germs that had been on Earth."

And how's the delivery system coming? Have they tried it on any Iraqi villages yet? Maybe they could put sprinkle candy bars around in the street; snipers could dart the "subjects" as they pick up the candy bars.

Minion of URKOBOLD | September 25, 2007, 4:45pm | #

IN SPACE, IF YOU SCREAM, PEOPLE WILL FUCKING IGNORE YOU OR TELL YOU TO SHUT THE HELL UP.

P Brooks | September 25, 2007, 4:47pm | #

Drat! Either "put" or "sprinkle" should have been deleted prior to sumit comment-ing.
The Editor

Minion of URKOBOLD | September 25, 2007, 4:51pm | #

IN SPACE NOBODY WILL LET YOU EDIT

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 4:55pm | #

And if we're talking vacuum, well, why limit it to screaming? You can't hear anyone talk, sing, or hum, either.

P Brooks | September 25, 2007, 5:02pm | #

IN SPACE YOU HAVE NO BRAKES

or so it seemms.

Bugs Bunny, Marvin the Martian, and Duck Dodgers | September 25, 2007, 5:09pm | #

P Brooks,

We beg to differ.

de stijl | September 25, 2007, 5:13pm | #

I'm trying to remember one person screaming in a hard vacuum in Alien. I think they all screamed while on board their ship.

IIRC, doesn't the Alien scream at the end while getting blasted by the engines?

(Attn Ridley Scott, on the audio commentary when you were going on about how cool the carefully lit, falling water was awesome as a rocket engine effect, I was thinking to myself, "gayest effect evar").

Pro Libertate | September 25, 2007, 5:25pm | #

de stijl,

Don't remember. Could we hear it scream while in space? That's even worse if we can hear the alien scream in a movie about not hearing screams in space.

hale | September 25, 2007, 5:39pm | #

L. Ron Hubbard's not really an SF writer anyway; judging by his Mission: Earth books, he's really a satirist more in the mould of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams, just one with a weirdo agenda, high self-regard and no ability to edit.

Joseph Hertzlinger | September 25, 2007, 6:51pm | #

I, for one, welcome our new microscopic overlords!

Stevo Darkly | September 25, 2007, 9:52pm | #

I have this sneaking suspicion that talking to animals would kind of suck.

"Eat. Food. Smell food. Mmm butt smell."

You'd also hear this a lot:

"Strangers! Must protect borders!"

Shawn Levasseur | September 27, 2007, 4:54pm | #

Coming soon from Marvel Comics:

What If... The Fantastic Four were bacteria.