Going into Deep Space? No Boner for You.

This is the reason I continue to go to Drudge. First, to see what propaganda the enemy is putting out and secondly, occasionally you get little gems like this:

Deepspace astronauts may be prone to erectile dysfunction, study finds

Just going to cover some highlights from the article.

“As if homesickness, wasting muscles, thinner bones, an elevated cancer risk, the inescapable company of overachievers and the prospect of death in the endless vacuum of space were not enough to contend with, male astronauts may return from deep space prone to erectile dysfunction, scientists say.”

Those crazy scientists! They are always saying stuff. Since we literally have never had a single person go into deep space, I wondered how they could make this claim.

“In what is claimed to be the first study to assess the impact of galactic radiation and weightlessness on male sexual health, Nasa-funded researchers found that galactic cosmic rays, and to a lesser extent microgravity, can impair the function of erectile tissues, with effects lasting potentially for decades.”

Galactic Cosmic Rays! I asked my husband where he thought the researchers might have gotten galactic cosmic rays in order to come to this conclusion. He said, “Well, I'm assuming you can just go outside and collect it, right? Like in a jar, maybe?” Sounds legit to me. This being funded by NASA says a lot for credibility.

(Just so we know exactly what galactic cosmic rays are – I found this article:

Where Do Cosmic Rays Come From?

This was written by David J Eicher who has given lectures at the Vatican and written several books on Astronomy. David's father is John H Eicher who was involved in the Manhattan Project.

“cosmic rays are mostly charged particles...occur when cosmic rays collide with particles high in the atmosphere, producing a cascade of electrons, positrons, photons, muons,” to which my husband responded with, “Moooooo”. “Physicists have nicknamed them “Oh-my-God particles.”

Oh my God indeed.)

Back to the original article:

“Without a ready supply of humans to hand, the researchers turned to rats to explore the impact of spaceflight on male physiology. In a series of experiments, dozens of rats were suspended in harnesses at a 30-degree angle and exposed to simulated galactic cosmic rays at Nasa’s Space Radiation Laboratory in New York.”

A 30 degree angle looks like this:

So I asked my husband how they might have harnessed the rats. Did they put little individual harnesses on them or did they somehow harness them together as a group? He just laughed.

“Analysis of the rat tissues one year later revealed that even low exposure to galactic cosmic rays increased oxidative stress in the animals. This impaired the function of the artery that supplies blood to the penis and to the erectile tissue. Weightless had an impact too, but not as marked.

“Collectively, these results suggest that neurovascular function of the erectile tissues may be impaired throughout the remainder of the astronauts’ sexual health span following return to Earth from prolonged deep space exploration,” the authors write.”

One year later seems like a long time after exposure to make that conclusion. Collectively, sounds like BS to me.

Anyway, hope you all had a nice holiday weekend. Take care out there.