SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Breathing Lunar Dust Could Give Astronauts Bronchitis and Even Lung Cancer
[In] a recent study, a team of pharmacologists, geneticists and geoscientists consider how being exposed to lunar dust could have a serious effect on future astronauts' lungs.
[...] Previous research has also shown that dust can cause damage to cells' DNA, which can cause mutations and eventually lead to cancer. For these reasons, Caston and her colleagues were well-motivated to see what harmful effects lunar soil could have on the human body. For the sake of their study, the team exposed human lung cells and mouse brain cells to samples of simulated lunar soil.
These simulants were created by using dust samples from Earth that resemble soil found on the Moon's lunar highlands and volcanic plains, which were then ground to a fine powder. What they found was that up to 90% of human lung cells and mouse neurons died when exposed to the dust samples. The simulants also caused significant DNA damage to mouse neurons, and the human lung cells were so effectively damaged that it was impossible to measure any damage to the cells' DNA.
Assessing Toxicity and Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA Damage Caused by Exposure of Mammalian Cells to Lunar Regolith Simulants (open, DOI: 10.1002/2017GH000125) (DX)
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 08 2018, @08:19AM (3 children)
Conclusion: When visiting the moon, don't take off your space suit helmet to breathe the fresh air.
(Not even if your spanner somehow ends up inside your helmet).
(Score: 5, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday May 08 2018, @08:25AM
I know that lower gravity on the Moon makes it easier, but I still don't think jumping to conclusion is warranted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday May 08 2018, @11:52AM (1 child)
The air is fine, it's the dust that can be a big problem. Because it sticks to your suit. And it's very bad for the health, breathing it is as bad as smoking cigarettes. So you need to send your suit out to be cleaned A LOT. Big cleaning bills!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 08 2018, @01:56PM
4/5 You should have ended with a SAD, and maybe blame it on liberals.