Space madness First and foremost: Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you're spending your holiday surrounded by the people you love most. And turkey, of course. Lots and lots of turkey. (Ideally of the free-range variety, but that's a topic for another day.) Before you doze off in that tryptophan-induced stupor, though, there's a study I came across the other day that I think you'll find…interesting. Apparently, germs that have traveled to outer space are more dangerous than the ones that stay firmly planted here on Earth. Yes, you read that right. A team of researchers recently felt it necessary to see what would happen if they sent salmonella bacteria into orbit aboard a space shuttle. When the shuttle landed and the researchers got the bacteria back, they injected it into a group of mice. Another group was injected with your standard, and much less well-traveled salmonella. After 25 days, only 10 percent of the space-salmonella-infected mice were still alive, compared to 40 percent of the other group. It's nice to know they're spending their research dollars on something worthwhile, isn't it? As if the antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria we already have to contend with aren't a big enough problem, these researchers literally created a NEW problem for us to worry about. Of course, before any of us get too concerned, I suppose a little perspective is in order, and the odds of anyone actually coming into contact with space-germs are pretty slim. After all, I don't think that many astronauts put bacteria on their "to-pack" list before an expedition. And as smart as bacteria can be in terms of evading antibiotics, I just can't see them making it through space camp… Sources:
"Germs become more lethal after space travel," HealthDay News (www.healthday.com), 9/25/07
"Space flight alters bacterial gene expression and virulence and reveals a role for global regulator Hfq," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2007; published online ahead of print 9/27/07 | 
