Skip to content
The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper

The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper

Title

Name

Primary Menu
  • Home
  • Mindanao
  • Visayas
  • National
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • International
  • SciTech
  • Health & Wellness
  • Sports
  • About Us
    • Regional Advertising Rates
    • Contact Us
    • Profile
  • Home
  • International
  • Orbiting bacteria: Space Station may need some tidying up – CNN News
  • Featured
  • International

Orbiting bacteria: Space Station may need some tidying up – CNN News

Editor October 29, 2015

The next time NASA picks an astronaut to live in the International Space Station, it might want to send Mr. Clean. That’s because scientists using a kind of high-tech white glove test found something in the space dust there.

The astronauts are not alone, it turns out. They share tight quarters with some previously undetected, opportunistic bacterial pathogens.

They don’t call this bacteria “opportunistic” for nothing, saidKasthuri Venkateswaran who worked on the research at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and co-authored the paper in the latest issue of the journal Microbiome.

This bacteria, by its very nature, is “looking for an opportunity to become pathogenic,” Venkateswaran said. Meaning these little pests are mostly innocuous on Earth, but under the extreme environment of space, it could behave differently. The DNA test researchers used to identify them could not determine whether the bacteria could hurt astronaut health, since it is based on a genetic analysis, but microgravity can change bacterial behavior, earlier studies showed.

Currently, astronauts spend six months on the space station, but as NASA eyes a much longer mission to Mars — a journey that could take two years — the agency will want to make sure its astronauts won’t be exposed to anything that could harm them.

Out of an abundance of caution, it is worth monitoring more carefully, researchers said. Exactly how did the bacteria Corynebacterium (a bacteria that could cause respiratory infection) and Propionibacterium (bacteria that could cause acne) end up in the space station?

“Humans are great fermenters,” Venkateswaran said. In other words, bacteria hitched a ride to see the galaxy on the astronauts’ themselves. It’s not that astronauts are bad bathers. It’s that naturally we humans play host to tens of billions of mostly harmless bacteria

An earlier study found that when you enter a room, you add 37 million bacteria to the air for each hour you are there. Venkateswaran believes the bacteria became a freeloader on the payload. Cargo is cleaned, but apparently it may not be scrubbed enough.

Venkateswaran said these bacteria are not a new space station tenant. What’s changed is the method used to find them. “This is the DNA age,” Venkateswaran said. His team won the bid to use the latest DNA technology to “predict what is going on, rather than doing this using 100-year-old technology.” In other words, they didn’t want to bring a Progressive Era-weapon to a space age bacteria fight.

The team compared dust samples collected in an air filter and vacuum from the space station to cleanrooms based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Earth. The bacteria were found in a much greater numbers on the station.

There are differences between the two environments other than their location. Cleanrooms circulate fresh air. The space station must recirculate the same air. While there are only six people at a time in the space station, they don’t leave for months, as compared to the 50 or so people who typically use the cleanrooms and go in and out.

Using the latest DNA sequencing technology on these samples gave Venkateswaran’s team a much more detailed sense of what was up there and now with this study, NASA has an established baseline for being able to monitor exactly how clean the space station is and the cleanliness of other spacecraft on future missions.

Developing a better biosensor for space may also one day have an Earthly application. Venkateswaran said it could lead to developing a better biosensor for commercial airlines, which might lead to better monitored, or maybe even healthier, air.(Jen Christensen)

Link: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/28/health/space-station-surprise-bacteria/index.html

fb-share-icon
Tweet 20

Continue Reading

Previous: Saudi FM: Vienna talks to test if Iran serious on Syria – Aljazeera
Next: Oxygen discovered on Rosetta comet, stunning scientists – Fox News

Related News

Dmitry-Medvedev
  • International

Russian official claims nations ready to supply Iran with nuclear weapons

Editor June 23, 2025
Iran-Nuclear-Sites-target
  • International

Nuclear watchdog condemns US attack on Iranian nuclear sites as ‘illegal’

Editor June 23, 2025
Hacker by Tima
  • International

South Korea’s largest telecom operator suffers mass exodus of customers over data leak

Editor June 2, 2025

Trending News

Michael Harris Conlin Wins 2025 Philippine Barista Championship, Paving the Way for Philippine Coffee on the World Stage Michael-Harris-Conlin 1
  • Sports

Michael Harris Conlin Wins 2025 Philippine Barista Championship, Paving the Way for Philippine Coffee on the World Stage

June 30, 2025
Millions At Risk: Why Chronic Disease is a Crisis We Can’t Ignore CKD1 2
  • Health

Millions At Risk: Why Chronic Disease is a Crisis We Can’t Ignore

June 27, 2025
Canon empowers students with affordable, reliable printing solutions Back to School Media Event 6 (1) 3
  • Business

Canon empowers students with affordable, reliable printing solutions

June 26, 2025
Ahead of the Curve: Moda Interni and Pedini Debut the Most Curved, Luxurious Kitchen in the Philippines Goldwin_and_Francesco_1 .jpeg 4
  • Business

Ahead of the Curve: Moda Interni and Pedini Debut the Most Curved, Luxurious Kitchen in the Philippines

June 26, 2025
New beginnings: Xiaomi Launches Xiaomi YU7, Xiaomi MIX Flip 2, Xiaomi Pad 7S Pro 12.5, and various AIoT Devices in Beijing MixFlip2-June26-KV1 5
  • Business

New beginnings: Xiaomi Launches Xiaomi YU7, Xiaomi MIX Flip 2, Xiaomi Pad 7S Pro 12.5, and various AIoT Devices in Beijing

June 26, 2025
  • Facebook
  • X
  • YouTube
  • Blog
Copyright © 2025. The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper. All Rights Reserved. | MoreNews by AF themes.