Water is essential to human life – as our bodies consist for about 60 percent of it – and finding a suitable and abundant source of water is crucial for the establishment and survival for orbital space settlements. Fortunately water is composed from two of the three most common elements in the Universe: hydrogen and oxygen. Continue reading Asteroids and Water
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Home environment and education
In this post we want to discuss to studies reported by ScienceDaily on the relation between one’s home environment and performance an behavior at school. Continue reading Home environment and education
Future Fuel
Not directly related to space settlement, but still interesting to think about.
The age of (cheap) oil is doomed in the long run, even if we do not care about climate change, as petroleum is a finite resource which would eventually be depleted. However, our modern industrialized society requires a lot of energy and without it our planet cannot sustain a ten billion population.
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Health and working hours
We have discussed shorter work weeks in the past. There are several reasons for a reduction or working hours. Now French research adds another one to this list. According to a report on ScienceDaily people who work long hours over a decade have an increased risk of a stroke. Continue reading Health and working hours
Electric vehicles and public health
Our regular reader will know that we are quite hawkish when it comes to air quality and public health. One of the measure we have proposed is for space habitats to ban the use of internal combustion engines. A study by researchers from Cornell University provides a solid scientific base for a complete ban on internal combustion engines. Continue reading Electric vehicles and public health
Health promotion – some studies
ScienceDaily reports three interesting studies relevant for designing a public health policy. As we have stated previously, public policy should focus on prevention of disease – also known as health promotion. Continue reading Health promotion – some studies
Anti-radiation medicine?
Cosmic radiation is one, if not the most, major obstacle to space colonization. Different proposals have been made to address this issue. However, scientists have discovered that a protein called URI can protect against high dose radiation.
Though this research is done in mice and with the intend to help cancer patients through radiotherapy, it is still highly relevant for human space settlers.
Raspberry picking robot
The Guardian has an interesting article on a robot designed to pick raspberries – and potentially also other crops as well. This robot is able to about 25,000 berries a day, whereas a human picker can only do 15,000. It took about 700,000 Pound to develop this machine and it is expected it will come into production next year.
Farm automation is a rapidly developing field and one that is of great importance for future space settlements as we discussed earlier on this site.
Air pollution one more time
ScienceDaily reports of a Spanish study that shows that exposure around birth has a negative effect upon one’s cognitive abilities. Given that other studies on particulates have found similar and other negative impacts on human health, this study should not really surprise anyone. Continue reading Air pollution one more time
More on puzzles
ScienceDaily reports yet another study that shows that solving puzzles such crosswords or Sudoku has a positive effect on our brain. Tl-dr: regular puzzling makes your brain about ten years younger.
