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The purpose of that suit is to bring along the environment for which the astronaut’s genes make him or her fit. Just picture an astronaut encased in a space suit with the right amount of oxygen, the right amount of nitrogen, and the right temperature. The fitness of a human in space or on Mars is extremely low. In genetics, the fitness of an organism is how well it can thrive and reproduce in a given environment. It doesn’t mean that you’ve spent an hour on the treadmill at Equinox. To think about surviving in space, a term from the science of genetics-“fitness”-will come in handy. Like most good science fiction, the 1997 film is not so far from reality. Maybe you have seen the movie Gattaca? Only supermen with topped-off genomes are allowed to travel to Titan, while the genetic losers, called “in-valids,” stare up in envy as the rockets lift off. But let’s face it: NASA already “selects” people according to just such criteria, accepting only 14 of 18,300 applicants to its latest class of astronauts. “That would also be unethical.”īut putting astronauts in the mix might also open the door to “enhancement.” For now, the experts remain dead set against using gene editing to make a child who is smarter or endowed with perfect eyesight. “You can’t send someone to another planet without genetically protecting them if you are able to,” he says. Mason thinks that space travel will offer a second, very powerful argument in favor of genetically modifying people. The organization opined that under certain rare circumstances in which a couple could not otherwise have a healthy child, it would be acceptable to create a GM human being. National Academy of Sciences this year said yes, heritable genetic changes could be considered to avoid disease, but only in a few situations and under very strict supervision. Would it be ethical to then actually make a gene-fixed baby? The U.S. Since then, scientists in China and Europe have begun editing embryos to see how it works. For the first time, we faced the real possibility of genetically modified people. In 2015 we published an article, “ Engineering the Perfect Baby,” about the fact that gene editing, especially with a technology called CRISPR, had suddenly made it possible to easily change the genes in a human embryo. “There is not a genetic engineering astronaut’s consortium or anything, but maybe we should start one,” he says.Īll this has become easier to think about because it has become easier to do. Mason says he recently submitted a proposal to NASA to send the modified cells to the space station. His students are taking cells and adding extra copies of p53, a gene involved in preventing cancer that’s known as the “protector of the genome.” Elephants have many extra copies of p53 and hardly ever get cancer, so maybe astronauts should have them too. So he’s working on radiation-proofing human cells. Space is full of rays and fast-moving particles that damage DNA. Yet Mason says his lab is ready to take an initial step. So far, that’s about as close as NASA has gotten to the subject of GM astronauts-one that still hasn’t been broached in any official agency document. His lab participates in NASA’s Twins Study, which is tracking physiological changes to an astronaut who was sent to the International Space Station for a year while his twin brother stayed on Earth. Mason says there’s a decade or two of work left just to find out what effect space travel has on your genes, and which ones might be okay to change and which should be on a “do not disturb” list. “We don’t know if it’s a slight nudge to existing gene expression, or a whole new chromosome, or finally a complete rewriting of the genetic code.” “I think we have to consider it for people that we send to other planets,” he says. In it, genetic modification plays a big role. In 2011, Mason came up with what he called a “ 500-year plan” to get humans off Earth. One person looking at the idea is Christopher Mason, a member of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine.
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