Mouse Sperm Thrived Despite Six Years of Exposure To Space Radiation

In the longest biological experiment on the International Space Station yet, freeze-dried mouse sperm remained viable after nearly six years in space. Exposure to space radiation didn't seem to harm the sperm's DNA or the cells' ability to produce healthy "space pups," researchers report in Science Advances. Science News reports: That may be good news for future spacefarers. Scientists have worried that chronic exposure to space radiation might not only put astronauts at risk for cancer and other diseases, but also create mutations in their DNA that could be passed down to future generations. The new results hint that deep-space travelers could safely bear children. Studying how space radiation affects reproduction is tricky. Instruments on Earth can't perfectly mimic space radiation, and the ISS lacks freezers for long-term cell storage. So biologist Teruhiko Wakayama of the University of Yamanashi in Kofu, Japan and colleagues freeze-dried sperm, allowing it to be stored at room temperature. The team then sent sperm from 12 mice to the space station, while keeping other sperm from the same mice on the ground.

After returning the sperm cells to Earth, rehydrating them and injecting them into fresh mouse eggs, the team transferred those embryos to female mice. About 240 healthy space pups were born from sperm kept on the ISS for nearly three years; about 170 others were born from sperm kept on the space station for nearly six years. Genetic analyses revealed no differences between these space pups and mice born from sperm stored on the ground. Space pups that mated as adults had healthy children and grandchildren.

How was work today honey?

[Anonymous Coward]

Same old same old. Jacked off a few mice to collect their sperm.
For science. Nothing kinky.

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[Anonymous Coward]

TFA also does not address the important question: Sure, the sperm were viable after six years of space radiation -- but how is the taste?

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[bobbo666]

OK, wasn't this exactly the "scientific basis" of how the pods got to earth in "Body Snatchers"? Nice, so we've proven the possibility of a nightmare. Next, y'all test out an unproven (and unapproved) alteration to everyone's DNA to fight a disease -- which is what caused "I Am Legend". Geesh.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[rtb61]

Intern: Why do you want to freeze dry my testicles.
NASA:So you can safely reproduce in future.

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[cacahuetes]

Tastes just as delicious after 6 years in space.

Don't bring it back

[Provocateur]

Those magazine pages get stuck together... they're gone.

Well mc-d's is set

[ClueHammer]

Plenty of "mayo" for their space based locations.

No Coffee yet...

[beheaderaswp]

So what if interstellar space travel is only possible for sperm?

I'm not certain I can look at the night sky anymore....

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[Ostracus]

New meaning to "seeding the stars".

Excellent Slashdot Headline

[PopeRatzo]

Finally, we're getting some news for nerds, stuff that matters.

Nature is healing.

Mice are not humans.

[Pierre Pants]

Just a reminder.

I for one

[ChunderDownunder]

welcome our new rodent overlords.

Orbital space only

[Darren Hiebert]

"Space radiation" is quite misleading. The mouse sperm was exposed to the very limited radiation to which the Space Station is exposed to, not to space radiation more generally. The Space Station orbits within the Van Allen belts, which removes most of the space radiation that would otherwise reach the surface of the Earth. The results of this study are relevant to low-Earth orbit only, not to going to the Moon, Mars, etc.

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[ixneme]

I am shocked, shocked that no one has showered pedantic rage upon you for suggesting the ISS travels in the Van Allen Belts. Allow me to be the first. At an altitude of about 400km, the ISS is well below the inner belt. While the belts do protect us from charged particles (or at least are a consequence of the magnetosphere doing same), they would not be a healthy place to park a habitat.

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[iikkakeranen]

Perhaps most other pedants simply understood what he means... The Van Allen Belts act as a protective shell, and ISS (mostly) orbits within that shell.

The inner boundary of the inner belt actually dips down to as low as 200km (due to space weather and/or the South Atlantic Anomaly) so ISS does actually travel through it on occasion. In the event of a prolonged space weather event, the crew can shelter in modules with extra shielding.

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[Darren Hiebert]

Yeah, you are being pedantic. I was not trying to make this a lesson on the Van Allen belts and their physics (note that I am a physicist, by the way). The Van Allen belts like the shell of an egg, whereas the magnetic field that protects the Earth is like the egg. The Van Allen belts are the layer of that magnetic field where the strength of the field is sufficient to trap energetic charged particles that would otherwise strike the surface of the Earth and the life upon it. Therefore, one can, as a sort of

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[iggymanz]

You misunderstood what he said, your autism knob is on 11, dial it down so you can interact with and understand normal humans.

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[ixneme]

I'm pretty sure your comment is the only one in this exchange which is meant to be insulting, so maybe direct your observational energies inward...

are you a mouse or a man?

[codeButcher]

Astronauts are not keen on freeze-drying their nether regions before liftoff. Such crude 1990's tech..

Wouldn't it be a more modern solution if they rather identified as something or other that does not possess sperm? Has any research been done on that technique yet?

Do you want Biker Mice From Mars?

[SoundGuyNoise]

Because that's how you get Biker Mice From Mars!

Kurt Vonnegut would enjoy hearing this.

[rnturn]

One of his short short stories could come true one day. Maybe soon.

Great News!

[groobly]

Great news for mice! Again. Mice rule!

As long as we are freeze dried

[gurps_npc]

What happens to freeze dried sperm is not the same as sperm in a warm, live person.

Today I learned

[Solandri]

That baby mice are called pups. Oh, and something about space radiation and sperm.

Hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings

[RogueWarrior65]

Douglas Adams would be so proud.