The astronaut's brain is distorted in a long-term mission

In a report that raised concerns about missions to send people to Mars, researchers at the University of Michigan (USA) discovered astronauts' brains that changed shape during extended flights on the fund. religion.

According to Space Daily, the team of experts conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for astronauts who just left the International Space Station (ISS), and noted that some areas of the brain were marked effect of gray matter loss, while the rest increase. All brain scans of 12 astronauts spent 2 weeks on ISS and 14 people who spent half a year on the station all showed these signs. However, the changes are particularly evident in the long-lived group on ISS.

Microgravity affects the amount of gray matter in areas of the brain.(PHOTO: NASA).

Lead researcher Professor Rachael Seidler said: "We found that the amount of gray matter in many areas is reduced, possibly related to the reallocation of cerebrospinal fluid - marrow in spatial conditions ." She explained that microgravity cannot be reduced to normal, leading to the so-called "edema" in space. It is likely that the lack of attraction of the earth leads to a transition in brain distribution and condensation. However, experts also discovered increased gray matter in areas that control leg movement and handle sensory information from the two lower limbs. This shows that the brain may be learning to adapt to the micro-gravity environment.

Although researchers have not yet identified the specific cause behind these changes, they argue that the new finding could help people with similarly expressed diseases, such as brain accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid - marrow . Professor Seidler said the changes could be new connections between nerves. The expert is also working on another study, to track how long the changes remain after astronauts return to Earth.