Lunar dust can damage astronauts’ cells and increase cancer risk

Stony Brook University School of Medicine researchers report that lunar dust may be dangerous to astronauts. Not only does it destroy cells, but it can also alter DNA, which in turn can increase the risk of cancer.

Future astronauts whoowho would be members of long lunar missions could have health problems. All through inhalation of fine dust particles. New research suggests lunar soil may be toxic to humans.

Scientists have long known that moon dust can cause health problems. Already during the Apollo missions, astronauts complained that residual dust, whichore got on their spacesuits inside the lander, causing them to sneeze and have watery eyes. There was also irritation of the skory. This has now been confirmed by studies.

Human comorki lungs and comorki mozg mice were exposed to simulated lunar dust. In both cases, the dust damaged as much as 90 percent of the. of them. – Very small dust particles can interact directly with comorkami – said the Stony Brook University School of Medicine professor and head of theowny study author Bruce Demple. On top of that, the scientists also observed DNA damage.

Lunar dust does not resemble its terrestrial counterpart. Without an atmosphere, lunar soil is dry and potentially electrostatically charged – reads an article published in „GeoHealth”. On top of that, billions of years of bombardment by meteorites and micrometeorites ground the dust into very small particles of.

In the study, the simulated dust killed comorki and altered DNA, especiallyolnie the one with the finest particles. Scientists found that it can damage the lungs and accumulate in mozgu while causing a number of chorob with cancer at the forefront.

However, researchers have not determined why the dust is so harmful to the body. Perhaps the issue here is its size. Its particles are so small that they would easily enter the bloodstream from the lungs and further spread throughout the body.

Of course, the research is in some wayob limited, because they used simulated lunar dust. It consisted of dustoin volcanic rock taken in Arizona and from lava rocks from Colorado. For this comorki exposed to dust were bred outside living organisms. Nonetheless, this work confirms older research suggesting that lunar dust may be dangerous to human health.

Researchers at the New York university plan to obtain some real lunar dust from NASA to dispel any doubts. Confusion, ktore they induced with their work on a simulated counterpart can in this pomoc.