(ORDO NEWS) — Scientists have studied many pregnant animals in space, including salamanders, fish and rats, but not humans. In the history of space exploration, more than 60 women have been in Earth orbit, but not one of them was pregnant during the trip, not to mention giving birth in microgravity.
But given the many plans for future colonies and cities on the Moon and Mars , there’s a good chance humans will one day start breeding somewhere off Earth, and that raises some interesting questions. What will it look like? What will space babies look like? And, ultimately, how will childbirth in space differ from childbirth on Earth?
Obviously, giving birth in a low gravity environment will be much more difficult and dangerous.
In addition, constant stay in such conditions will create additional risks associated with ongoing pregnancy.
Outside of Earth’s gravity, for which we were created, bones lose their density. Studies show that astronauts working on the ISS lose 1% to 2% of bone density each month.
And this is especially important during childbirth, since bone weakness can lead to damage to the pelvis. In fact, women with brittle bones are advised by doctors to avoid natural childbirth, which could mean space births will require alternative methods.
“This could lead people living off-Earth to rely more on caesarean sections for childbirth,” commented Scott Solomon, professor in the Department of Biosciences at Rice University, Houston, Texas.
Scott Solomon is an evolutionary biologist who has shown through his research what the cosmos can do to generations of people born in low gravity. It is known that the way we give birth affects the anatomy of our offspring. For example, our head size is limited by the size of our mother’s birth canal.
“The more often people in space will use a cesarean section, the larger the head of their offspring will be, because it will not be limited by the size of the birth canal,” Solomon explained.
Big heads aren’t the only major change
Space will change the color of human skin, which will need enhanced protection from harmful cosmic radiation.
“Melanins are high molecular weight pigments found in skin, hair and the iris of the eye that protect us from ultraviolet solar radiation on Earth.
This means that space generations will need increased protection, which means that the level of melanins will increase dramatically. It turns out that people living outside the Earth will have a different skin color, ”said Solomon.
The higher the melanin content, the darker the skin. Solomon predicts that people living in space will have darker skin, but he notes that these changes will take centuries or even millennia.
An equally significant change will be higher stature and significantly elongated limbs, which will be due to lower gravity. These changes, of course, will take longer than even the “darkening of the skin.”
“In the end, people living in space can evolve and be so different from people on Earth that we will consider them as a separate species,” Solomon said confidently.
But for this to happen, humanity needs courageous women who dare to pave the way for a new species …
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