Germs Taken Into Space May Come Back Deadlier
westlake writes “Sounds like the plot for a B-movie, doesn’t it? Germs go into space and come back stronger and deadlier than ever. Except, it really happened. In a medical experiment, salmonella carried about the space shuttle in the fall of 2006 proved far more lethal to lab mice than their earth-bound source. 90%% dead vs. 60%% dead in twenty-six days, with half the mice dying at 1/3 the oral dose. Apparently 167 genes in the space-evolved strain had changed. The likely cause: In microgravity the force of fluids passing over the cells is low, similar to conditions in the gastrointestinal tract, and the cells adapted quickly to the new environment.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Title: Germs Taken Into Space May Come Back Deadlier
Link: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/161062170/article.pl
Author: ~Zonk
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