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from the we-don’t-yet-know-the-gravity-of-the-problem dept.
As if space wasn't dangerous enough, bacteria become more deadly in microgravity.:
All life on Earth evolved with gravity as an ever-present force. Thus, Earth's life has not adapted to spend time in space. When gravity is removed or greatly reduced, processes influenced by gravity behave differently as well.
In space, where there is minimal gravity, sedimentation (when solids in a liquid settle to the bottom), convection (the transfer of heat energy) and buoyancy (the force that makes certain objects float) are minimised.
Similarly, forces such as liquid surface tension and capillary forces (when a liquid flows to fill a narrow space) become more intense.
[...] Worryingly, research from space flight missions has shown bacteria become more deadly and resilient when exposed to microgravity (when only tiny gravitational forces are present).
In space, bacteria seem to become more resistant to antibiotics and more lethal. They also stay this way for a short time after returning to Earth, compared with bacteria that never left Earth.
Adding to that, bacteria also seem to mutate quicker in space. However, these mutations are predominately for the bacteria to adapt to the new environment – not to become super deadly.
[...] Research has shown space's microgravity promotes biofilm formation of bacteria.
Biofilms are densely-packed cell colonies that produce a matrix of polymeric substances allowing bacteria to stick to each other, and to stationary surfaces.
Biofilms increase bacteria's resistance to antibiotics, promote their survival, and improve their ability to cause infection. We have seen biofilms grow and attach to equipment on space stations, causing it to biodegrade.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MostCynical on Monday July 27 2020, @09:53AM (2 children)
so it won't be nasty germs "from spaaaace" that kill us, it will be nasty germs, from earth, trained to be nasty, in space...
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday July 27 2020, @09:05PM (1 child)
It worked for Goku!
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday July 28 2020, @03:35PM
He died multiple times, if I remember correctly.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2020, @10:09AM (3 children)
I assume airplane cleaners know a little bit about the problems that space ship cleaners will have to face.
but it sounds to me like the way forward is to design the ship around the concept of layered shells.
outershell designed to last forever; smooth and rounded corners like they have in hospitals (easy to disinfect).
innermost shell (that people actually interact with) easily disposable.
I guess some form of this idea is already in place, both with airplanes and space ships, but I really hope they try to keep everything to a single, reasonable, standard.
Maybe the same standard could then be used to make cars last as long as trains... I know it's possible to redo the interior of a car, but I doubt a lot of people actually do it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2020, @11:05AM
Make it as clean as our nation's light rail systems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2020, @02:06PM (1 child)
I suspect airplane cleaners don't have in their experience how to clean vomit from the "ceiling" of the cabin.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2020, @02:26PM
I read that and the immediat reaction was "astronauts are really pissed off about vomit apparently. I'm a bad person, I made an astronaut angry".
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Monday July 27 2020, @01:40PM
>Similarly, forces such as liquid surface tension and capillary forces (when a liquid flows to fill a narrow space) become more intense.
Even the linked abstract clearly states that the forces *don't* become more intense - their *effects* become more intense, since without the overwhelming influence of gravity they become the dominant force acting on fluids.