Pregnancy and Humans in Space

No matter where they live, many people eventually end up having kids, even in some of the most out-of-the-way spots on the planet. But, will they be able to live and work in space and have children? Or on the Moon? Or on Mars? Humans being humans, they will very likely try. Whether they succeed or not depends on a lot of factors. One vision of Mars habitats that will provide shelter for astronauts as they learn to explore the planet. Eventually, they could be raising families on the Red Planet, in more extensive habitats that may well be underground. What will those children be like?. NASA As humans prepare for a future off Earth, mission planners are finding answers to a number of questions about long-term space residency. One of the most perplexing is Can women get pregnant in space? Its a fair one to ask since the future of humans in space depends on our ability to reproduce out there. Is Pregnancy Possible in Space? The technical answer to that question is: yes, its possible to become pregnant in space. Theres nothing known about being in space that would prevent egg and sperm from uniting to make a baby. Of course, a woman and her partner need to be able to actually have  sex in space  in order to for those cells to get together in the first place. Additionally,  both she and her partner must  be fertile. Cycles infertility can be checked, and the mom and dad could then choose the right time to make that space baby. However, theres more required than doing the deed. It turns out there are significant other hurdles that stand in the way of having what it takes to make a baby and then  remaining pregnant once fertilization takes place. Barriers to Child-bearing in Space The primary problems with becoming and remaining pregnant in space are radiation and low-gravity environments. Its important to understand both.  Ã‚   The Moon has practically no atmosphere and no way to filter out harmful radiation. Humans living there would face some radiation danger from solar particles and cosmic rays. This could have a profound effect on a couples ability to start a family.   NASA Radiation can affect a mans sperm count, rendering him infertile, possibly permanently. It can also harm a developing fetus. Radiation hazards exist here on Earth, too, as anyone who has taken a medical x-ray or who works in a high-radiation environment knows. Its why both men and women are usually supplied with protective aprons when they get x-rays or other diagnostic work. The idea is to keep stray radiation from interfering with egg and sperm production. Once an embryo is created, its subject to the same radiation dangers as the mother. Conditions that Could Interfere with Pregnancy Lets say that conception happens after a couple gets together on the space station or during a trip to Mars or even after they land on the Red Planet. The radiation environment in space (or on Mars) is severe enough that it would prevent cells in the fetus from replicating. Thus, no baby would be brought to term.   Mars has a thicker atmosphere than the Moon, but it still is not enough to shield humans from radiation. This is another place where humans could face difficulties conceiving and birthing children. Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS In addition to the high radiation, astronauts live and work in very low-gravity environments. The exact effects are still being studied in detail on lab animals (such as rats). However, its very clear that a gravity environment is needed for proper bone development and growth. When astronaut Scott Kelly (and others) spent long periods on the International Space Station,  they showed significant changes in their health. Similar issues could affect a developing fetus. Such atrophy is why astronauts have to exercise in space regularly in order to prevent muscle atrophy and loss of bone mass. A growing embryo or fetus could be permanently altered, right down to the DNA. Solutions to the Radiation Problem Clearly, if people are to venture out into space on a more permanent basis (like extended trips to Mars) radiation hazards need to be minimized, not just for the adults but for any possible children born on the trips.  But how to do that? Astronauts taking extended trips into space will be on ships that are likely not to provide the heaviest radiation shielding. Once they get to Mars, for example, theyll be subjected to a lot of radiation on the surface that is not stopped by the thin atmosphere. Also, the lower gravity on Mars (and on the Moon, for those who migrate there), will be an issue.   The Orion crew capsule (shown here in water recovery testing) is a typical crew-carrying spacecraft that is shielded to protect astronauts from most radiation. Special precautions and materials must be used to protect crew members. Future spacecraft will need similar protective environments. NASA   So if permanent residencies are ever going to exist on Mars or the Moon, like those proposed by Dr. Mae Jemison for the  Hundred-year Starship, then better shielding technology would have to be developed. Since NASA is already thinking of solutions to these problems, its likely that radiation will cease to become as big a threat as it is now. Overcoming the Gravity Problem The problem of a lower gravity environment may be more difficult to overcome if humans are to successfully reproduce in space. Life in low gravity affects a number of body systems, including muscular development and eyesight. So, it may be necessary to supply an artificial gravity environment in space to mimic what humans evolved to expect here on Earth. The good news is there are some spacecraft designs in the pipeline, like the Nautilus-X, that employ artificial gravity designs. These use centrifuges that would allow for at least a partial gravity environment on part of the ship. Anyone who has ridden a ride such as the Mission Space experience at Disney Worlds EPCOT center has felt the gravitational effects that a centrifuge can supply.   The problem with such designs is that they cant yet replicate a full gravity environment, and even then occupants would be constrained to one part of the ship located in the centrifuge. This would be difficult to manage. Further exacerbating the problem is fact that the spacecraft needs to land. So what do people do once on the ground in a low-gravity environment on a place like Mars? The Future in Space: No Kids in Space Yet Ultimately, the long-term solution to the problem is the development of anti-gravity technology. Such devices are still a long way off. However, if spaceship technology could somehow manipulate gravity then it would create an environment where a woman could carry a fetus to term. Until that is a possibility, humans going to space currently are very likely using birth control to prevent stillbirths and miscarriages. If they are having sex, its a well-kept secret. But there have been no known pregnancies in space.   Nonetheless, humans will have to face a future that includes space-born and Mars- or Moon-born children. These people will be perfectly adapted to their homes, and oddly enough—the Earth environment will be alien to them. It will certainly be a very brave and interesting new period in human history!   Edited and updated by Carolyn Collins Petersen.

War Breaking Out On American Soil - 1470 Words

Today it is hard to imagine war breaking out on American soil. Though war has most definitely not ceased to exist as a constant worry in our minds, most Americans do not have to fear a stray bomb to drop into the yard. The Civil War, though, had exactly that kind of effect on the American population, both of the Union and the Confederacy. Civilians often found themselves at the mercy of either army, in some cases both, and were forced to choose a side even if they wanted no part in the war. As the films Shenandoah (1965) and Ride with the Devil (1999) portray, for many people the war invaded their lives, and forced them to take matters into their own hands against the evil-doing soldiers as irregular troops waging guerilla warfare. Other times, as the film Pharoah’s Army (1995) depicts, helpless civilian families and their homesteads came under occupation by the opposing side. When neighbors begin warring, nobody could escape the crossfire and people found themselves entangled in the war whether they wanted to take part or not. Primary documents from Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction, edited by Michael Perman, tend to support the films’ points on the depiction of the role of the civilians, such as the anonymous letter from the plain folk protesting the burden of the war from February of 1863. Shenandoah begins with a vision of the nineteenth century dream of idyllic American life. Farmer Charlie Anderson is happy and satisfied on his peaceful tract ofShow MoreRelatedTerrorism Essay1030 Words   |  5 Pagescarried out on U.S. soil. Much time has passed since then and the United States has changed in the succeeding years. Billions more than before, are now going into defense funds. American citizens have lost many conveniences as well as bits and pieces of privacy. Many Americans have even added many words to their vocabulary. Words like Al-Queda and Anthrax are thrown around in everyday conversation. To most these things are unde rstandable, they were changes necessary to insure Americans safety. Read MoreEssay about United States Involvement in The Second World War (WWII)615 Words   |  3 Pages World War II nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;As totalitarian sates emerged into power, the United States got involved with World War II to help control these groups and to promote democracy in the European theatre of the world. The party with the most power at the time was the Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler. This socialist party was led by a powerful dictator who broke away from the League of Nations and began to conquer vast amounts of territory at a fast rate. The United States wanted to leaveRead MoreThe Long Way Home By David Laskin848 Words   |  4 PagesThe author of â€Å"The Long Way Home: An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War† is David Laskin. Laskin, born in New York, attended the New College, and earned MA in English. Laskin wrote several books about history, travel, and literary biography. In â€Å"The Long Way Home†, Laskin shares the struggles the immigrants had to face in America; an endeavor to start over in the land of opportunities, and the ordeal of t heir return to Europe in uniform to fight. With the intention of having a betterRead MoreThe Collapse Of Communism Was A Major Victory For The United States1231 Words   |  5 PagesUnited States cold war with Russia was over, It recreated a trade relation with America and countries all over the world. The collapse of communism was a major victory for the United States. â€Å"By the summer of 1990, all of the former communist regimes of Eastern Europe were replaced by democratically elected governments† (Office of the historian). East Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia all had new democratic parties in power for the first time since the aftermath of World War II. Reformed communistsRead MoreThe Mexican War848 Words   |  4 PagesThe Mexican War is frequently viewed as one of the United States greatest contentious wars. The war was fought between 1846 and 1848. Was Manifest Destiny the motivating reason or could it have been something else? The awareness of Manifest Destiny was starting to expend the thoughts of countless Democratic Americans. They wanted for the United States to increase their land to have continental power. It was understood that additional territory would entail the spread of economic achievement. ThereRead MoreEssay on Manifest Destiny and American Politics658 Words   |  3 PagesDuring the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the United States saw many problems come and go. 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The United StatesRead MoreManifest Destiny1380 Words   |  6 Pagesnumerous wars and treaties. The greatest one of these expansion periods occurred from the 1830s to the 1860s, largely due to the idea of Manifest Destiny, the belief that American settlers were destined to ex pand across the continent to the Pacific coast. This development played a major role in dividing the North and the South by contributing to contrasting ideologies of the two regions towards social and economic foundations of the new territory, and would eventually lead up to the Civil War, literallyRead MoreIwo Jima And Okinawa Kiran Klubock832 Words   |  4 Pagesbattles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa were two of the most important American operations in the Pacific Theatre against the Empire of Japan during World War Two. The goal of the two operations was to secure strategically important islands close to Japan to use for bombing campaigns. The battles for Iwo Jima(February-March 1945) and Okinawa f(April-June 1945) killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians and helped to win the war for the United States. In February of 1944, the U.S. launched OperationRead MoreFranklin Delano Roosevelt And The First President Of The United States Of America1351 Words   |  6 Pages12/18/15 5th period Mrs. Dowling FDR American Bad*** Introduction and Thesis â€Å"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.† These famous words were spoken by Franklin Delano Roosevelt who was the thirty second president of The United States of America. He served four terms as president (March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945) and was a major leader in the allied powers during World War II without him the allied powers might not have been able to win the war He helped the american people regain faith in themselves

Article Summary And Critique Free Essays

Abstract This paper is going to summarise an articles that relate to environmental management and ecological modeling. It will also include a critique of the article in order to ascertain whether it has logical arguments.The critique will also involve an assessment of whether there was conclusive evidence in the article. We will write a custom essay sample on Article Summary And Critique or any similar topic only for you Order Now In this paper, additional literature will be used in order to make personal opinions on the conclusions made by the authors of this article. Summary: Hutchins, M. G., 2012. What impact might mitigation of diffuse nitrate pollution have on river water quality in a rural catchment The article entitled â€Å"What impact might mitigation of diffuse nitrate pollution have on river water quality in a rural catchment?† by Michael Hutchins, studied the role played by nitrate loads in freshwater. The investigator carried out the study by evaluating how phytoplankton growth is affected by nutrient and light concentration. On one hand, the assessment of nutrients concentration was done by the measurement of annual mean concentration sourced from periodic regulatory monitoring. On the other hand, the effect of light was assessed using data sourced from solar radiation and sediment monitoring data. The investigator went further and assessed areas in the river under study that had sufficient calm water that could facilitate the growth of phytoplankton. This was done using hydraulic data collected from river network model applications. The researcher then went further and developed an analysis of the effect of the changes on land management in the nitrate concentrat ions in the river. This was carried out using estimations from NALTRACES, a nitrate model. An analysis using NALTRACES concluded that as much as agriculture contributes to increased levels of nitrates in the river water, its effect on the growth and concentration of phytoplankton is negligible. The study also found out that the growth of phytoplankton is regulated by the amount of sunlight that is able to infiltrate the water. In fact, areas that allow maximum light infiltration into the water promote extensive growth of Phytoplankton even if the levels of nitrates in the water are very low. Therefore, the investigation concluded that nitrate concentration is not one of the conditions that determine the growth of phytoplankton in the river water. The investigation concluded that developing a means of regulating the amount of light reaching the water is an effective way of regulating the growth of phytoplankton. It also suggested the establishment of a riparian tree cover as one of the ways that can be used in the regulation of light availability in the river water. Data was gathered and analyzed using a variety of simple modeling approaches to arrive at the conclusion that an effective way of mitigating phytoplankton growth is by minimizing illumination on the water surface. Critique The article by Hutchins is researched well, and the conclusions developed from the findings are well founded and backed by a good number of previous investigations. The conclusions are well founded because they are derived from the collected data. In addition, the conclusions are achieved after the collected data is critically analyzed and evaluated. The methodology applied in the investigation is effective enough to provide an explanation to the research issue. This is because it involves the collection of primary data as well as secondary data (Hutchins, 2012), which assists in explaining terms used in this research. The investigation applied a correlation analysis of nutrient level and phytoplankton growth, resulting to the development of a conclusion that had enough evidences that backed it. The evidence was derived from the data in the correlation analysis. In fact, the data used in the research acted as evidence for the conclusions made. Furthermore, data regarding sunlight ill umination and phytoplankton growth was used in the development of a sound analysis. From this analysis, it was concluded that it is one main factor that if controlled, the growth of phytoplankton can be fully regulated. On examining the sources used in this review, we notice that all sources are academic and written by well-known authors and published in credible journals. In fact, most of the studies referenced in the investigation were conducted between the years 2003 and 2012. Therefore, the sources cited in this article are the latest with respect to information portrayed in the article. However, the article has provided a stand that contradicts many recent investigations that link phytoplankton bloom to increased nutrient levels in water. Xu et al (2010) proposes an approach of regulating phytoplankton bloom in Lake Taihu that basically involves an approach aimed at lowering the lake waters nutritional levels. From their study, it was evident that phytoplankton bloom in the lake is directly associated with increased leaching of nutrients into the lake waters. On the other hand, Hutchins (2012) argues that nutrient levels have no form of association with phytoplankton bloom. This assertion is not founded since effects of human activities lead to unnatural forms of occasions. The sun is always constant, and its effects with relation to phytoplankton bloom are directly proportional to the levels of nutrients available in the waters to effect growth. As much as his conclusion links the reduction of illumination in the river as an approach towards managing the growth of phytoplankton, the application of this approach is quite limited and time consuming. In most cases, it might take several years to manage the problem by developing a means of regulating sunlight. According to a study by Lewis and Wurtsbaugh (2008), the phytoplankton growth limiting effect of nitrates is not universal. It is common in waters found in the high altitude tropic regions, which are not the case of the location of the river analysed in the study. The author also mentions phosphorus as a mineral that has no effect on the concentration of Phytoplankton; this stand contradicts a study by Sylvan and his colleagues (2006), which provided an inverse proportionality of the concentration of phosphorus to the concentration of phytoplankton. Therefore, the assumption adopted by Hutchins (2012), in his investigation required a deeper clarification on the approach adopted on arriving at the conclusion of delinking mineral concentrations to phytoplankton growth in the river. For the case of this river, I think a study that specifically analyses the extent to which nutrients affect the growth of phytoplankton is the best approach that will provide practical and applicable findings and recommendations. An in-depth analysis of the impacts of each nutrient to the growth of phytoplankton is necessary. Furthermore, this article is limited in its approach to developing a recommendation that aims at limiting the sunlight accessing the water in the river. As much as he assures the reader of the effectiveness of that approach, it is less viable due to several issues, including cost and time factor. In conclusion, as much as this article enriches the available level of understanding on management of Phytoplankton, its limitation in terms of applicability of the findings limits the effectiveness of the study with relation to the topic of the paper. References Hutchins, M. G., 2012. What impact might mitigation of diffuse nitrate pollution have on river water quality in a rural catchmentJournal of Environmental Management, 109, 19-26. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.04.045 Lewis, W. M., Wurtsbaugh A. W., 2008. Control of lacustrine phytoplankton by nutrients: Erosion of the phosphorus paradigm. Internat. Rev. Hydrobiol. 93, 446–465. Retrieved from http://ciresweb.colorado.edu/limnology/pubs/pdfs/Pub190.pdf Sylvan, J. B., Dortch Q.,Nelson, D.M.,MaierbrownA.F.,Morrison W., Ammerman, J. W., 2006. Phosphorus limits phytoplankton growth on the Louisiana shelf during the period of hypoxia formation. Environ. Sci. Technol. 40, 7548–7553. Retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net/publication/6548676_Phosphorus_limits_phytoplankton_growth_on_the_Louisiana_shelf_during_the_period_of_hypoxia_formation/file/d912f51017f64c452b.pdf Xu, H., Paerl, H.W., Qin B., Zhu G., Gao, G., 2010. Nitrogen and phosphorus inputs control phytoplankton growth in eutrophic Lake Taihu, China, Limnol. Oceanogr., 55(1), 420–432. Retrieved from http://www.jlakes.org/web/Xu%20et%20al.-LO2010.pdf How to cite Article Summary And Critique, Essay examples

Is there any excuse of the behaviour of Shylock in Shakespeares Merchant of Venice Essay Example For Students

Is there any excuse of the behaviour of Shylock in Shakespeares Merchant of Venice Essay Shylock, one of the most well-known characters from Shakespeares Merchant of Venice, is a Jew and an Usurer, who is generally disliked within the play, and because of this he has his own distinctive way of speaking, and is addressed unusually by others. Shylock is addressed both politely and impolitely by other characters in The Merchant of Venice. Bassanio and Antonio both speak politely to Shylock at the beginning for example If it please you to dine with us but this is because they are asking for money and not because they are particularly sincere. In fact after Shylock speaks angrily towards them, Antonios feelings start to show through, when he says I am as like to call thee so again showing a more impolite tone. Therefore their feelings are exposed by the way that they address Shylock because they are very courteous and then rude. Shylock is often referred to in a bad way, alot of metaphorical language is used about Shylock like when he gets called a misbelieve and a cut-throat dog he is compared to an unpleasant, violent animal like you may well as question with the wolf. This use of imagery suggests that Shylock behaves without thinking about others. The issue of Shylock being Jewish is mentioned often, for example lest the devil cross my prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew and is usually used in predujudice terms. He is also considered a villain, I like not fair terms and a villains mind. There are two characters who are not against Shylock, the Duke and Portia but they still make it clear that they are disgusted with his actions when she says, Shylock, theres thrice thy money offered thee. Shylock replies bitterly to the insults thrown at him and manipulates his tormentors with his words to gain vengance. When the case reaches court, it becomes clear that Shylock has now decided that the pound of flesh will come from Nearest the merchants heart. He also shows his cunning tricks when he trys to relax Bassanio and Antonio when he says I had forgot, three months, you told me so when it is extremely unlikely that a usurer and merchant would forget any details of a monetary contract. When Shylocks language is not manipulative it is forceful and insistent. Revenge seems to control Shylocks life like when he talks of the pound of flesh To bait fish withal, if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge he appears consumed by revenge. Shylock is addressed and speaks in several different ways. People around him openly show their dislike and disapproval by using the unpleasant imagery. Shylock shows his own personality and attitude by choosing his words carefully. Repetition ensures he is seen as a forceful character and also the constant theme of revenge and recalling his enemies words show his dominance.