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We are finding out that strange things happen to people that are sent into space. We know that their muscles will deteriorate from the lack of gravity, their bones will get less dense and they will be exposed to cosmic rays and different types of radiation. Some astronauts have said that when they were in space they felt a sort of cosmic connection. This has become known as the Overview Effect or Space Euphoria. Here is a question for those out there that are reading this article. Do you think that being off of the planet Earth and its pressing atmosphere frees our brains to allow us to think more clearly? This sounds like a very strange question, doesn't it, but it is a question that has not been studied very much? I guess the better question is do we think the same when we are away from the Earth and gravity and all the other things that are part of our Earthly world? Anything is possible. A very interesting study would be to have an astronaut on Earth complete certain tests, including physical ones and then send him up into space and have him do similar ones. Would there be a difference in proficiency and the time need to accomplish these tests?

Experts have stated that once someone returns from space there is a difference in them. Some experts want to find out why and will set up experiments. They look at things from a chemical and electrical standpoint, where as some might look at the same thing from a spiritual one. Could it be that just the sheer vastness of space is enough to change our opinions of who we are and what we are doing here? I imagine that when one is out in space and sees how insignificant our planet really is compared to even the solar system, not to mention the galaxy or universe, this has a tendency to change people on the psychological level. Things that were once thought of as important, seem to fade into inconsequential nothingness. It would probably make more sense and produce better results if an astronaut had a brain scan before taking off into space and then had one after about a week or more in space. We could compare the two and see if there was any difference. Many astronauts have become philosophical after returning to earth, especially those that have been in space for a few days and those that have done space walks.

I am familiar with behavioral patterns and many people are as much a product of their environment as any other factor and maybe even more. The environment of space seems to affect people in a lot shorter time than most any environment on Earth. That alone is like an alarm going off, to me. Would lack of gravity alone allow the brain more freedom to think? Maybe the brain floats a little more freely in our heads allowing us to use more neurons? Maybe since our body functions become easier, such as breathing and walking, there is more room in our brains for calculations? On the other hand our brains are run on energy. Cosmic rays and the radiation from the sun are energy. These things are bombarding the astronauts and maybe they add power to the neurons of our brains allowing them to run just that little bit faster, or on the other hand slow it down. Could going into space kill brains cells? We know that NASA was worried about sending astronauts to Mars, because the trip takes too long right now and subjects the astronauts to too much radiation. Maybe the brains of astronauts should be measured before and after a trip into space to see if there is any change in size?

Here is something that may be pertinent to the change in character of some of the astronauts. Scientists have found that there is a certain type of radiation in space that targets a certain type of stem cell in an area of the brain that is thought to control mood and learning. Could this be why astronauts are changing when they return to Earth? The findings were made by a team of researchers from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, NASA's Kennedy Space Center and the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida. It seems to me that with these research groups working on this project and agreeing, it must be true. Does this mean that every time we send an astronaut up into space, we are risking them having a change in their character? It is beginning to look that way. The change may not be a big one and it might only be noticed by those closest to the astronaut. Even though this might be the case, NASA wouldn't want to stop sending people into space, that is why I believe this dubious statement was released after the research results, "Our discovery does not present any adverse issues for the astronaut program because the ground-based dose and application of radiation we used were not comparable to that seen for existing space travel....., But the exceptional sensitivity of these neural stem cells suggests that we are going to have to rethink our understanding of stem cell susceptibility to radiation, including cosmic radiation encountered during space travel, as well as radiation doses that accompany different medical procedures." That statement was made by one of the research leaders.

When I read that statement it made me also think about all the tests we are subject to during our lives that entail radiation. You will notice that he mentions this too. Could it be that some people who have personality changes have had them because they were exposed to too much radiation during these tests? This would mean that our current understanding of the amount of radiation we can take safely as humans might be incorrect. The brain may be far more sensitive to radiation than we imagined. While a safe dose might be specified for our bodies, our brains might be altered by that same radiation. Scientists were startled to find that a small amount of radiation can kill a stem cell in our hippocampus. What scientists thought previously was that dividing cells were most sensitive to radiation, but the stem cell that is being killed is not one of those.

Until now other problems with space travel took main stage, but now we are going to have to rethink everything we do. Will faster speeds affect our brains? If we travel through worm holes will this? What about if we break the light speed barrier, will our brains be able to survive that, even if our bodies do? Long term habitation in space, or on other planets may have to be given a lot more study before we try anything like that. We may have to take the case of each situation individually. An example might be that planet A is fine, it is no more harmful to our brains than living on Earth, but planet B is different, its atmosphere lets in a certain type of radiation that was previously thought to be harmless, but we know now that it is a brain changer.