Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Hot-Ad-6967 t1_jedr6uo wrote

Babies need the gravity to grow inside the womb. That will be very difficult to achieve in space.

12

seakingsoyuz t1_jef262t wrote

> need the gravity

There have been experiments with pregnant rats that were launched into space and successfully delivered litters afterwards.

Rats born in space struggle to orient themselves right side up in gravity, but they figure it out in a few days.

From what I can find, there haven’t been any experiments on conception or zygote implantation in space, but that’s because they can’t get the rats to figure out how to bang in zero gravity, not because of any specific reason it shouldn’t work.

This is a little reminiscent of the NASA scientists who were convinced that microgravity would interfere with Sally Ride’s menstrual cycle.

7

Objective-Mechanic89 t1_jefanhn wrote

>This is a little reminiscent of the NASA scientists who were convinced that microgravity would interfere with Sally Ride's menstrual cycle.

I'd be more worried about how low gravity affects bone density or the effects of cosmic radiation outside of earth's atmosphere in the development of the fetus. There are valid ethical concerns that don't boil down to oppressing women in some way.

8

hypercomms2001 t1_jee92fi wrote

Yes, agreed... this is a very bad idea. They should experiment with other species first.

−6

NerfSchlerfen t1_jeeabjj wrote

- person who probably didn't think about this topic for more than 15 seconds before commenting

9

hypercomms2001 t1_jeeb5uc wrote

In fact I have… and your comment belies an arrogance that hides an ignorance of the topic….

−10

NerfSchlerfen t1_jeefuc1 wrote

They're researching conception and EARLY embryo development in space. There are known issues with human reproduction in space but likely many unknowns as well which this project is trying to investigate. Using human cells is more useful, cheaper and more ethical than sending animals into space to fuck. Yet the internet goblins are already calling it a "very bad idea."

13