Friday, May 20, 2016

Developmental Biology and Human Space Settlement

Today I had occasion to work on a diagram addressing some reproductive issues in the prospect of human space settlement. In particular I feel that early developmental biology will be most likely to be upset by conditions different from Earth's one-g gravity field, which has shaped land animal reproductive biology for over 300 million years. This October, Elon Musk will reveal SpaceX's plan for a city on Mars. I say Bravo! Bold and important! But we will need to learn a lot about our biology on Mars, where 1/3 gravity of Earth will be sure to affect reproduction; and we may have to ensure the health also of our domesticates, plant and animal, who will accompany us to the Red Planet as well! All good reasons to begin research and planning now, as I'm doing in my forthcoming graduate-level technical book "Principles of Space Anthropology".

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