NASA to Conduct Unprecedented Twin Experiment   
       
   April 10, 2014:  Consider a pair of brothers, identical twins.  One gets a job   
   as an astronaut and rockets into space.  The other gets a job as an astronaut,   
   too, but on this occasion he decides to stay home.  After a year in space, the   
   traveling twin returns home and they reunite.   
       
   Are the identical twins still . identical?   
       
   NASA is about to find out.   
       
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmbsqSYeHYM   
       
   NASA astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly prepare to participate in an   
   unprecedented study in the biology of space-faring twins.  Play the video   
       
   In March of 2015, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will join cosmonaut Mikhail   
   Kornienko on a one-year mission to the International Space Station.  Their   
   lengthy stay aims to explore the effects of long-term space flight on the   
   human body.   
       
   The interesting thing about Scott is, he's a twin.  His brother Mark is also   
   an astronaut, now retired.  While Scott, the test subject, spends one year   
   circling Earth at 17,000 mph, Mark will remain behind as a control.   
       
   "We will be taking samples and making measurements of the twins before,   
   during, and after the one-year mission," says Craig Kundrot of NASA's Human   
   Research Program at the Johnson Space Center. "For the first time, we'll be   
   able two individuals who are genetically identical."   
       
   The experiment harkens back to Einstein's "Twin Paradox," a thought experiment   
   in which one twin rockets to the stars at high speed while the other stays   
   home.  According to Einstein's theory of relativity, the traveling twin should   
   return younger than his brother-strange but true.   
       
   NASA's study won't test the flow of time. The ISS would have to approach the   
   speed of light for relativistic effects to kick in.  Just about everything   
   else is covered, though.  NASA's Human Research Program recently announced the   
   selection of 10 research proposals to study the twins' genetics, biochemistry,   
   vision, cognition and much more.   
       
   "Each proposal is fascinating and could be a feature-length story of its own,"   
   says Kundrot.   
       
   http://tinyurl.com/kzdqy3b   
       
   Press release:  NASA Selects 10 Proposals to Explore Genetic Aspects of   
   SpaceflightHere are a few examples to give the flavor of the research:   
       
   "We already know that the human immune system changes in space.  It's not as   
   strong as it is on the ground," explains Kundrot. "In one of the experiments,   
   Mark and Scott will be given identical flu vaccines, and we will study how   
   their immune systems react."   
       
   Another experiment will look at telomeres--little molecular "caps" on the ends   
   of human DNA. Here on Earth, the loss of telomeres has been linked to aging.    
   In space, telomere loss could be accelerated by the action of cosmic rays.    
   Comparing the twins' telomeres could tell researchers if space radiation is   
   prematurely aging space travelers.   
       
   Meanwhile in the gut, says Kundrot, "there is a whole microbiome essential to   
   human digestion.  One of the experiments will study what space travel does to   
   [inner bacteria] which, by the way, outnumber human cells by 10-to-1."   
       
   Other proposals are equally fascinating.  One seeks to discover why astronaut   
   vision changes in space.  "Sometimes, their old glasses from Earth don't   
   work," notes Kundrot.  Another will probe a phenomenon called "space fog"-a   
   lack of alertness and slowing of mental gears reported by some astronauts in   
   orbit.   
       
   "These will not be 10 individual studies," says Kundrot. "The real power comes   
   in combining them to form an integrated picture of all levels from   
   biomolecular to psychological.  We'll be studying the entire astronaut."   
       
   Separated for a full year, Scott and Mark will make it possible for future   
   astronauts to travel farther than ever before, and still look forward to happy   
   reunions when they return home.   
       
   Credits:   
   Author: Dr. Tony Phillips |  Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit:   
   Science@NASA   
       
   More information:   
       
   NASA Human Research Program   
       
   NASA Selects 10 Proposals to Explore Genetic Aspects of Spaceflight   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
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