Search

This comprehensive handbook serves the needs of biomedical researchers, space mission planners and engineers, aerospace medicine physicians, graduate students, and professors interested in obtaining an up-to-date and readable introduction to bioastronautics, the science of humans in space. Following the excitement and progress of the birth of the space age in the fifties and sixties, with the successes in human space flight – culminating with the Moon landings – the field of bioastronautics retreated into the more workmanlike arena of successively longer stays in low Earth orbit. At this time, major new initiatives are ahead both in human and robotic space exploration. The International Space Station, along with the developing Chinese space station and lunar program, will permit the development and testing of the means of astronaut protection for long duration missions – eventually to Mars and its moons, as well as visits to asteroids, other NEOs, and the Lagrange points. New life support systems and innovative approaches to radiation protection beyond Earth's magnetic field will all be developed and tested. Meanwhile, the search for extraterrestrial life, past or even present, is accelerating – with the spectacular finds of Martian water and the discovery of potentially habitable extra-solar planets. A new generation of scientists is ready to attack a new set of problems, and is in need of an efficient, accurate and searchable means of discovering the essentials of the field. This reference work also covers the challenges, past achievements, and potential solutions inherent to the safe exploration of distant space and the search for life off our planet. The entries summarize the tertiary literature and include sufficient data and illustrations to introduce each topic, while avoiding the length and detail of scientific review articles.

This book explains how stress – either psychological or physical – can activate and/or paralyse human innate or adaptive immunity. Adequate immunity is crucial for maintaining health, both on Earth and in space. During space flight, human physiology is specifically challenged by complex environmental stressors, which are most pronounced during lunar or interplanetary missions. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the book identifies the impact of these stressors – the space exposome – on immunity as a result of (dys-)functions of specific cells, organs and organ networks. These conditions (e.g. gravitation changes, radiation, isolation/confinement) affect immunity, but at the same time provide insights that may help to prevent, diagnose and address immune-related health alterations. Written by experts from academia, space agencies and industry, the book is a valuable resource for professionals, researchers and students in the field of medicine, biology and technology.The chapters “The Impact of Everyday Stressors on the Immune System and Health”, “Stress and Radiation Responsiveness” and “Assessment of Radiosensitivity and Biomonitoring of Exposure to Space adiation” are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Between 1963 and 1969, the U.S. military carried out a series of tests, termed Project SHAD (Shipboard Hazard and Defense), to evaluate the vulnerabilities of U.S. Navy ships to chemical and biological warfare agents. These tests involved use of active chemical and biological agents, stimulants, tracers, and decontaminants. Approximately 5,900 military personnel, primarily from the Navy and Marine Corps, are reported to have been included in Project SHAD testing. In the 1990s some veterans who participated in the SHAD tests expressed concerns to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that they were experiencing health problems that might be the result of exposures in the testing. These concerns led to a 2002 request from VA to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to carry out an epidemiological study of the health of SHAD veterans and a comparison population of veterans who had served on similar ships or in similar units during the same time period. In response to continuing concerns, Congress in 2010 requested an additional IOM study. This second study expands on the previous IOM work by making use of additional years of follow up and some analysis of diagnostic data from Medicare and the VA health care system.

Stress of either psychological or physical nature can activate and/or paralyse humans'innate and adaptive immunity. However, adequate immunity is crucial to the maintenance of health on earth and in space. During space flight, human physiology and health are challenged by complex environmental stressors which might be at their most pronounced during lunar or interplanetary missions. While previous publications have addressed the physiological changes that occur during space flight, this book goes further, by adopting an interdisciplinary approach to analyze the complex interaction of living conditions in space, the immune system, and astronauts'health. It is explained how such analysis of the consequences of stress for the immune system may help in preventing, diagnosing, and counteracting immune-related alterations in health on earth as well as in space

For decades experiments conducted on space stations like MIR and the ISS have been gathering data in many fields of research in the natural sciences, medicine and engineering. The EU-sponsored Ulisse Internet Portal provides metadata from space experiments of all kinds and links to the data. Complementary to the portal, this book will serve as handbook listing space experiments by type of infrastructure, area of research in the life and physical sciences, data type, what their mission was, what kind of data they have collected and how one can access this data through Ulisse for further research.The book will provide an overview of the wealth of space experiment data that can be used for research, and will inspire academics (e.g. those looking for topics for their PhD thesis) and research departments in companies for their continued development.

Medical Geology is a rapidly growing field concerned with the relationship between natural geological factors and human and animal health, as well as with improving our understanding of the influence of environmental factors on the geographical distribution of health problems. This book brings together the work of geoscientists and medical/public health researchers, which addresses health problems caused, or exacerbated by geological materials (rocks, minerals, atmospheric dust and water) and processes (including volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Among the environmental health problems discussed in this book are: exposure to toxic levels of trace essential and non-essential elements such as arsenic and mercury; trace element deficiencies; exposure to natural dusts and to radioactivity; naturally occurring organic compounds in drinking water; volcanic emissions, etc. The text also deals with the many health benefits of geologic materials and processes. This wide-ranging volume covers issues in medical geology all over the world with each author covering their respective region. It provides examples from different continents as well as a state-of-the-art review of the latest developments in the discipline. The authors are all recognized geoscientific and medical experts working in the field. The book is written for a wide variety of specialists from geologists, geochemists, pathologists and medical doctors to veterinarians and biologists.

Why write this book? Of all the intricate components of the human body, the central nervous system is the most responsive to the environment, detecting and responding to changes immediately. Its complexity, however, also means that it is still one of nature's best-kept secrets. Considering that the exploration of space is often thought of as the final frontier in the discovery of our origin and the preparation for our future, Neuroscience in Space is a book addressing the last, and greatest, scientific frontier. All living things on Earth have evolved in the presence of gravity and all of their biological systems have anatomical and physiological mechanisms designed to interpret and measure the force of gravity. However, in the near weightlessness of space, the sensory systems that provide basic information regarding linear acceleration no longer function as they did on Earth. As a result, most if not all, physiological systems dependent on the body's central nervous system are in flux until a new microgravity state is realized. This includes adaptation of basic life sustaining functions such as blood pressure control and cardiac function, as well as other critical functions for everyday activities including balance, coordinated movement in three-dimensional space, and the regulation of sleep. Bones that supported body weight on the ground no longer have that load to bear. They begin to lose mass and strength, as do weight-bearing and postural muscles in the legs.

“ Our second Symposium The Future of Life and the Future of our Civili- tion” was held in May of 2005 year in Germany (Frankfurt am Main). The first one “The Future of the Universe and the Future of our Civilization” was held in July of 1999 year in Hungary (Budapest and Debrecen). The late professor George Marx from Eotvos University was Chairman of Local Organizing Committee (LOC) in Budapest. In Debrecen professor Denes Berenyi from Institute of Nuclear Research was Chairman of LOC. After Symposium in Hungary a thought was created to hold a new one to discuss the Future of Life. Practically 6 years came after Budapest's meeting. At first the thought was to hold such Symposium in two stages. The Symposium might be begun in India (Rerikh's places in Himalaya) and then might be continued in Greece since Greece is a motherland of our Civilization. But India and Greece were rejected owing to financial pr- lems. It is necessary to remember the late French professor Michel Bounias from University of Avignon who took in participation on all stages of organization of these Symposiums. Professors Jiannis Seiradakis also as and Athina Geronikaki of Thessaloniki University helped me very much before transfer of Symposium of Greece in Germany.