NASA has confirmed that astronaut Scott Kelly‘s DNA was altered after spending a year in space. We don’t want to outright say this was caused by a hostile extraterrestrial intelligence, but you just know it was.
Scott and his twin brother Mark Kelly were part of a landmark study which sought to find out exactly what happens to the human body after spending an entire year in space. Mark remained on Earth as the control, and Scott was hurled into space for an entire year – which, to be honest, sounds like it would be really fucking boring after a few weeks tops.
The study subjected the brothers to a whole raft of psychological and physiological tests to ascertain exactly what a frankly unsustainable amount of space does to the human body and psyche. Researchers found that while in space there was a relatively significant change to Scott’s gene expression: the endcaps of his chromosomes (called ‘telomeres’) had become elongated.
Most of these DNA changes reverted within two days of Scott returning to earth, but 7% of them did not. NASA believes the remaining altered may indicate longterm changes “connected to the immune system, DNA repair, bone formation networks, oxygen deprivation and elevated carbon dioxide level.”
So no real indication of superpowers or extraordinary abilities. A man can dream. But space changed his DNA and that’s wild enough for me.
The studies on the twins are set to be pulled together into a summary paper which will be released later in the year. This study will inform NASA’s understanding of the human body for “years to come,” the agency says. Will it also prove that going to space gives you incredible super powers? I say yes. Yes it will.
