More on this: "The truth

AmericanDreamer — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 19:47:51 +0000

In reply to After a Year in Space, NASA Astronaut's Genes Have Changed. Possibly for Good.

More on this: "The truth about astronaut Scott Kelly's viral 'space genes'", Sarah Kaplan, WaPo today: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/03/16/th...

....

At no point in that process was Scott Kelly zapped by an alien laser beam, attacked by a xenomorph or otherwise transfigured into a previously unknown mutant variety of human.

But you wouldn't know that from reading some of the coverage the January announcement inexplicably spawned this week — articles claiming that the mission activated Kelly's “space genes,” that 7 percent of his genes didn't return to normal post-spaceflight, and that he and Mark are no longer identical twins.

Aside from being about old news, these stories are biologically impossible. If 7 percent of Kelly's genome was altered, he would be about as different from a human as a rhesus monkey.

The actual transformation is much subtler. According to a NASA's research — which is still preliminary, with the agency expecting to publish a more complete study this year — it's not Kelly's genes that changed but how they were expressed.

....

dagblog - Comments for "After a Year in Space, NASA Astronaut's Genes Have Changed. Possibly for Good."

More on this: "The truth