美國宇航局探索轉(zhuǎn)基因超級宇航員的可能性

美國宇航局探索轉(zhuǎn)基因超級宇航員的可能性

As NASA gears up to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s, scientists are brewing new ways to help them survive the trip.

隨著美國國家航空航天局(NASA)準備在本世紀30年代將宇航員送上火星，科學家們正在醞釀幫助他們在火星之旅中幸存下來的新方法。

One radical option is to modify the DNA of space explorers to using controversial gene-editing technology. Much like Sam Worthington in the 2018 Sci-Fi flick “The Titan,” astronauts would be engineered to deal with the harsh toll of space travel.

一個激進的選擇是使用有爭議的基因編輯技術(shù)來修改太空探索者的DNA。就像薩姆·沃辛頓(Sam Worthington)在2018年的科幻電影《泰坦》(the Titan)中一樣，宇航員將被設(shè)計來應(yīng)對太空旅行的嚴酷代價。

And NASA-backed researchers have already begun to investigate the possibility, reports The Times.

據(jù)《泰晤士報》報道，美國宇航局支持的研究人員已經(jīng)開始調(diào)查這種可能性。

One experiment at Cornell University is looking at taking a gene copied from a tiny but hardy creature and inserting it into embryonic human cells grown in a laboratory.

康奈爾大學(Cornell University)的一項實驗正在研究從一種微小但生命力頑強的生物身上復(fù)制出一種基因，并將其植入實驗室培育的人類胚胎細胞中。

The tardigrade, also known as the water bear, is smaller than a grain of table salt but has a remarkable resistance to cancer-causing cosmic radiation that astronauts would encounter exploring outer space.

緩步動物，也被稱為水熊，比一粒食鹽還小，但對致癌的宇宙輻射有很強的抵抗力，宇航員在探索外太空時會遇到這種輻射。

“We’ll protect the astronauts physically, we’ll protect them pharmacologically,” Dr. Christopher Mason, lead scientists on the project, told The Times.

“我們將在身體上和藥物上保護宇航員，”該項目的首席科學家克里斯托弗·梅森博士告訴《紐約時報》。

“But could we protect them genetically, with armor on the inside of their cells?”

“但我們能通過在細胞內(nèi)部植入盔甲來保護它們的基因嗎?”

However, the technology faces huge ethical and legal hurdles and remains decades away from ever being implemented.

然而，這項技術(shù)面臨著巨大的倫理和法律障礙，距離真正實施還有幾十年的時間。

It involves taking the super-gene in question and using a virus to permanently weave it into a person’s DNA.

它涉及到將所討論的超級基因和使用一種病毒將其永久地編織到一個人的DNA中。

Scientists still have no idea what the long-term effects such a change might have on someone’s mental and physical health.

科學家們?nèi)匀徊恢肋@樣的改變會對一個人的精神和身體健康產(chǎn)生什么樣的長期影響。