Inhabiting the moon and Mars sounded like a dream but now it might be a nightmare.
A new study shows that male sperm and female eggs don’t make a sustainable reproductive match in weightlessness.
Scientists took samples of the ingredients for fertilization from humans, pigs and mice (respectively) and tried to join them together in a weightless atmosphere to see if they would reproduce offspring.
What they found is that gravity such as we experience on earth is necessary for the fertilization process to work.
In what’s known as an atmosphere of microgravity the sperm and eggs just didn’t mesh properly.
Development was either delayed or simply didn’t work altogether.
The upshot bodes ill for conception in space and you know what that means – no baby astronauts.
The lack of procreation may keep us grounded for the time being, sad to say.
If we can’t make babies in a gravity-free environment it means colonizing space translates to human extinction.
“Houston we have a problem.”
Living On The Moon And Mars – Maybe. Making Babies? ‘Houston We’ve Got A Problem’
By Ted Cohen
