Astronaut Brain Probing Findings To Be Presented In Adelaide

Significant implications for future human colonisation on the moon could have potentially be discovered following the probing of astronauts brains.

Radiologists studied the brains of astronauts, revealing significant changes in the brain associated with long exposure to microgravity, including Spaceflight Neuro-Ocular Syndrome, are linked to the brain’s waste clearance system called glympathics.

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The syndrome can cause vision issues, changes to the brain's structure and a shift in brain fluid.

The annual gathering of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists in Adelaide will hear more of the findings, including world-first data from MRIs taken from astronauts working with NASA, the European Space Agency and the Russian Space Agency.

College of Radiologists president Sanjay Jeganathan said understanding the impacts of microgravity and developing measures to support the health of space travellers would ultimately help mankind become a multi-planetary species.

"Human space exploration is set for rapid development in the next decade," Professor Jeganathan said.

"The space radiology session demonstrates how radiology can support astronauts’ health and documents the challenges to human physiology by prolonged exposure to low gravity."

The full findings from the study will be presented at the conference later today.

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