Good News: Space Bacteria (Probably) Aren’t Evolving to Destroy Us
Microbes on ISS are changing their genes, but don’t worry
We’ve all read science fiction stories about a disease going rogue on a space ship, decimating the crew. While space holds plenty of other terrors, new research suggests that bacteria we bring with us from Earth are more likely to evolve to survive alongside the spaceship’s human crew.
Bacteria are inescapable, wherever life exists. That includes all built environments, from houses to the International Space Station. However, scientists have only started to study how microbes adapt to these living conditions. “There are a lot of questions about how space flight and space conditions will affect organisms including microbes,” says Erica Hartmann, Northwestern University microbiologist and environmental engineer and author of a new paper that holds answers for at least some of those questions.
Humans living in space have weakened immune systems, which potentially makes spacefaring people more vulnerable to infection. How bacteria respond is less well-documented, and there have been some concerns that they’ll adapt to space conditions in ways that will make them harmful to humans. The new study, published this week in the journal mSystems, offers a promising hint that in space, bacteria are just adapting to survive./.../
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