US researchers have created the first 3D map of the microbes on the International Space Station, finding a lack of microbial diversity could be causing astronauts to get rashes, cold sores and other immune issues.

Summary from elsewhere

The International Space Station (|SS) has low microbial diversity, which could lead to astronaut health issues, according to a study published in Cell.

Researchers found that the microbial communities resemble those found in sanitized environments like hospitals rather than natural settings.

Co-senior study author Pieter Dorrestein explains that increasing microbial exposure could improve astronaut health during long-term space travel.

The study suggests incorporating natural elements, like soil, into the ISS to enhance microbial diversity and astronaut well-being.

The study in question:

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00108-4

  • phdepressed
    2·
    4 hours ago

    Sending probes makes you good at sending probes, it’ll never make you good at sending humans. Further, it is because things are untested that we send humans. Because we can think and adapt. We’re able to do a lot more than even controlled rovers can do. There is no real training data for a spacefaring AI and genAI does not exist. Humans however, can figure out new situations.

    Yes, there are difficulties in human space travel but they aren’t difficulties that an automaton is going to be able to indicate to us. What probe would let us know about human health in space? What probe can share any real perspective about what it’s like to see a sunrise not on earth.

    Making space purely robotic is depressing.