Twins in Space

Twins in Space: An Unlikely Cosmic ExperimentNASA's Kelly brothers offer science a rare chance to study how space affects the bodyNo one ever pretended outer space is a hospitable place. There’s the hard vacuum, the lethal cold and the ever-present risk of even a small meteor hit. And then there’s the way the human body seems to revolt at the very idea of being there.No sooner do astronauts arrive in space than up to 40% of them begin throwing up. Most of them adjust soon enough, but they may continue to feel dizzy and fatigued all the same. There’s also back pain, calcium loss, muscle atrophy, nasal congestion, accelerated heart rate and increased blood pressure—all a result of the skeletal and circulatory systems trying to adjust to zero gravity. Longer term damage may include distorted cell growth—also a result of zero-g—and DNA changes caused by cosmic radiation, leading to an increased risk of cancer and other diseases.But how much of all that can you blame exclusively on space? Some people just have weaker bones than others; some are predisposed to hypertension or cancer. Separating heredity from environment isn’t easy even when the environment you’re talking abo ut is a decidedly extreme one. Serendipity, however, has now provided a perfect way to begin investigating the mystery, in the form of Scott and Mark Kelly, identical twins who just happen to be astronauts.The Kellys have already achieved national and even global renown—Mark for his four shuttle missions and his cumulative 54 days in space, not to mention his high-profile devotion to his wife, former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, as she continues to recover from the 2011 assassination attempt that nearly took her life; and Scott for his two shuttle flights, including a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Mark has since retired from NASA, but Scott is still flying, set for a full-year aboard the ISS, beginning in March 2015. And that has provided NASA with an unprecedented opportunity to run a nifty experiment.In anticipation of the time Scott will spend aloft, NASA’s Human Research Program—a division of the space agency that studies space biology and safety—has begun requesting ideas from biologists and other researchers for comparison tests that can be conducted on the two men, both during and after the year-long mission. The name of the project—Differential Effects on Homozygous Twin Astronauts Associated with Differences in Exposure to Spaceflight Factors—is just the kind of scientific mouthful you’d expect, but it also frames perfectly just how valuable twins can be to scientists trying to understand the human body. The genetic software of identical twins matches perfectly, which means that most differences in how they age and the illnesses they do or don’t develop are attributable to environmental factors or life experiences. That makes the Kellys priceless lab subjects. “This is a once-in-a-space-program opportunity,” said John Ch arles, chief of the Human Research Program’s International Science Office, in a statement that accompanied the announcement of the project. “The mission of the HRP is to reduce the risk to astronauts during long-duration space flight. In typical investigations, we usually have a specific outcome in mind and are goal-oriented. In this case, the slate is essentially blank. I am anxious to see what proposals we receive from the scientific community.”Some of the experiments are obvious. Blood samples will be taken of both men at the same intervals during the course of the year. Saliva samples and cheek swabs may be collected too and psychological and fitness tests may be conducted—though exactly what those last two will involve has yet to be determined. Follow-up tests after Scott comes home will be carried out as well—for years and perhaps even for the remainder of the brothers’ lives.The Kellys aren’t perfect subjects: the time Mark has already spent in space muddies the study up a little since he’s been expo sed to the same exotic physical environment Scott has. The ideal subjects would be a twin who is flying in space and one who has never left the planet. But after Scott’s return he will have amassed 540 days in space, or precisely 10 times Mark’s total, whi ch ought to be a big enough difference to give the findings real credibility.Whatever results the study yields will have more than theoretical implications. A year in orbit seems like a lot, but it’s only a fraction of the time an eventual Mars trip would take—with its outbound and inbound legs of at least eight months each, not to mention a long stay on the Martian surface. That mission, in turn, would be nothing compared to a long-imagined trip to Jupiter’s moon Europa, with its globe-girdling ocean that could be home to life. On the same day NASA announced the Kelly experiment, it also released a paper in the Journal Astrobiology, outlining the goals for a Europa mission.Neither trip is coming in the near future; at the moment, NASA doesn’t even have a way to launch its own astronauts to low-Earth orbit. But for the U.S., China and other countries, deep space colonization does remain a long-term—if distant—goal. Making sure we can survive the trip is a vital first step.Eurozone Turning a Corner as Recession Set to EndThe recession that’s gripped the eurozone since late 2011 is likely over.On Wednesday official data is expected to show that economic growth among the 17 countries that use the euro inched up 0.2 percent from April to June compared with the previous quarter.The increase is slight. But it would end six straight quarters of a debilitating recession —the longest to afflict the single-currency bloc since its creation in 1999.And it would represent an encouraging sign for other economies, including the United States, the world’s largest, as the eurozone is the world’s biggest trading bloc. Its recession had held back growth in the U.S., Japan and elsewhere because European consumers and businesses have spent less on goods from those nations. “Concerns about the eurozone were causing a lot of companies to put investment on hold,” said David Owen, chief European economist at Jefferies International.The eurozone’s recession was a byproduct of the debt crisis that engulfed the currency union in 2010. The crisis forced debt-laden governments to impose painful cuts, spooked investors and raised doubts about the viability of the eurozone. Shrunken governmentspending and higher taxes devastated living standards in much of the eurozone, slowed economies and drove the bloc’s unemployment rate to a record 12.1 percent.The austerity programs embraced by the most troubled eurozone countries contrast with more expansionary efforts in the United States. The Federal Reserve has also been more active than the European Central Bank in helping the economy. It drove borrowing rates to record lows once the financial crisis erupted in 2008. Ultra-low U.S. rates helped boost stock prices and home sales. U.S. unemployment has dropped to 7.4 percent from 10 percent in late 2009 despite a subpar economic recovery.In recent months, the picture has brightened in Europe as well as governments have shifted their focus away from debt reduction. Industrial production is rising. Consumer spending has stabilized. Exports have increased as key trade partners, including the United States and Japan, strengthen.Confidence has also recovered as stock and bond markets have rallied. That’s partly due to the European Central Bank’s pledge a year ago to do “whatever it takes” to save the currency union and its decision to cut its main interest rate to a record low of 0.5 percent.In Spain and Italy, for example, government borrowing rates have sunk in the past year, a sign of investor confidence. Analysts expect Wednesday’s figures to show improvement in both countries, though both are likely to have remained in recession.Whatever growth is reported for the eurozone it is unlikely to be evenly spread out across the bloc. The strongest economy, Germany, is expected to post quarterly growth of 0.6 percent, thanks to its high-value exporters. Others continue to languish under the burden of austerity policies.Unemployment remains at stunning highs in some countries — more than 26 percent in Greece and Spain, with youth unemployment of around 60 percent. Youth unemployment, in addition to hindering economic growth, is thought to contribute to crime and political extremism. “While welcome news, much of the return to growth is likely to be driven from Germany, which is likely to be cold comfort to countries like Spain, Italy and Greece buckling under crippling levels of debt and unemployment,” said Michael Hewson, senior market analyst at CMC Markets.Few economists think the indebted countries can start producing German-style levels of growth in the coming years. Burdens from expensive public financing and unemployment will likely continue to weigh on their economies.Yet for many people, even a mild improvement is cause to celebrate, however tentatively, and a suggestion that the darkest days are in the past.。