REAL LIFE NEWS: WHY ASTRONAUTS’ EYES GET DAMAGED
by Hazed
Spending time in zero-gravity isn’t good for the body. One of the problems that astronauts suffer after they return from a stint on the International Space Station is damage to their eyes. Now scientists think they know why their eyesight deteriorates.
Noam Alperin of the University of Miami, lead author the study, explained that numerous astronauts who started with 20/20 vision returned to Earth to find they needed to wear glasses. “People initially didn’t know what to make of it, and by 2010 there was growing concern as it became apparent that some of the astronauts had severe structural changes that were not fully reversible upon return to earth.”
Scientists thought it might be something to do with increased pressure inside the astronaut’s heads, but no one was really sure. Then Alperin and his team decided to look at the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) which surrounds our brains and spinal cords, ensuring a flow of nutrients and removing waste.
They scanned the brains and eyeballs of seven astronauts before and after spending long periods on the ISS, then compared the scans with those from astronauts who had only been in space briefly.
The damage to the eyes was noticeable in the long-stayers. Their eyes were more flattened and their optic nerves more swollen. Significantly, they had higher volumes of CSF in their eye sockets, and the higher the volume, the more vision problems the astronaut had.
Now the source of the problem has been identified, Alperin and NASA are working to simulate the conditions that cause it. The aim is to find a way to protect the eyes of future astronauts.
