Comments on: Houston, We May Have Some Problems: Colonizing Mars and Sex in Space

By: Ira

Ira — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 00:35:10 +0000

Regarding Space Sex, It HAS happened, but NASA wouldn’t release an official word about it. I happen to know only this tiny bit of information because a friend of mine spent two months at “Singularity University” and one of the astronauts they were talking with has divulged that tiny datum, but could not comment further

regarding “it will be a new species”, well, it certainly will not be a big genetic diversion, but the next generations will look different: they will get less sun light, their bones will be less dense since infancy and throughout their growth process, so we don’t know how that will work out, and finally there’s the issue of nutrition – if it’s substantially different from earth plants and meat, then it won’t only change the children’s hormonal balance but may also start effecting their development in the womb in yet unforeseen ways, as the mother’s body chemistry is also a major factor in the development. let’s hope they just look weird (pale, odd-shaped, brittle bone structure maybe), and not really badly deformed and in horrible agony from abnormal skeleton development and FSM-knows-what. they will certainly have to document at least 10 new medical conditions not in the medical books on their first year on mars alone, before you get to pregnancies and the other issues.

By: Eliza Strickland

Eliza Strickland — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 21:00:18 +0000

@ Eric & Kevin Bridges: yeah, we should have made it more obvious that we’re skeptical of Rhawn Joseph’s credentials and his quote. His over-the-top website doesn’t provide a link to the Brain Research Laboratory he says he’s affiliated with, and we couldn’t find it ourselves.

I’ve added a little extra skepticism to the text above.

– Eliza, DISCOVER online news editor

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 19:51:07 +0000

How do I volunteer!?!

By: ThatGuy

ThatGuy — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 19:47:43 +0000

I’ll get the powder, sir. /Kif

By: Thomas

Thomas — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 18:35:12 +0000

To get a new species in a reasonable number of generations you’d a very high fatality rate and correspondingly high fertility. The fatality part may not be too far fetched, I can think of all kind of medical problems for a child growing up in a much lower gravity, probably higher radiation etc.

Of course, in reality they would all die in ten years when people on Earth grew bored of the whole thing and stopped sending supplies. It’s not as if such a small colony can be self sufficient.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 18:02:31 +0000

Of course a new species would arise. Remember the three breasted woman from Total Recall?

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 16:16:15 +0000

Probably not the wisest decision to start a sex-related story with the words “strap on.” I has certain connotations, you know.

By: Jennie Kermode

Jennie Kermode — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:47:50 +0000

There is a phrase, ‘Antarctic pretty’, which neatly sums up the way human sexual behaviours tend to change in small, isolated colonies. Mate selection is unlikely to be an issue.

I would be exceedingly surprised if ways to have sex in space have not been found already, whether or not they have been reported to NASA.

By: Jake R

Jake R — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:18:34 +0000

I would go on that trip in an instant if it came up, and I am only 22! It sounds like a great time, though that new species thing is kinda dumb to say.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 04:53:18 +0000

@3. Eric & 4. Kevin Bridges:
Agreed. The less intense light and weaker gravity would likely result in nothing more than paler skin and smaller muscles. Also, I am pretty sure that no realistically probable amount of genetic mutation will ever occur that will allow a human being to survive in the Martian atmosphere. That would require a dramatic alteration of the basic physiology that is common to every land animal on Earth, and so even our “fittest” would die upon exposure and thus never reproduce! Instead, we would have to “evolve” our technology in order to facilitate our survival.

By: Kevin Bridges

Kevin Bridges — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 04:34:13 +0000

“‘And after several generations, you’d have a new species,’ [Joseph] said.”

Wow. Evolution has its complications, but it’s not so far out of reach that this sensationalist statement should ever have been made.

The public view of evolution, that it’s a force that automatically makes offspring better than their parents, is ridiculous, and apparently something that Rhawn Joseph believes in.

Maybe I should listen to him. After all, he “says he’s affiliated with the Brain Research Laboratory in California” Well, I’m also affiliated with that laboratory*, so now that I said that, I can speak with as much authority as Rhawn Joseph.

*false

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 02:53:54 +0000

“And after several generations, you’d have a new species,” [Joseph] said.”

I am not sure that this guy knows how evolution works. Why would Discover even help propagate this misconception by repeating the quote? It would take many, many generations and variable reproduction or natural selection for a new species to develop.

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 01:21:19 +0000

I love writeups like this. humans have evolved to live in relatively small groups, of which only a few people would be sexually potential mates.

As soon as small groups begin settling, innate behaviours could become dominance. I think looking back 10,000 years and human behaviour is important. Sex in space is possible, but what about what drives us? can science and logic become obsolute when innate behaviours fuel our desires, especially over generations.

Sam

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:49:57 +0000

I’m pretty sure people will find a way to have sex in space; they’ll probably consider it a personal goal. But they won’t actually need to. The trip to Mars is only about 6 months. There’s plenty of time after that.

It’s also possible to build a spinning habitat on Mars to provide the extra gravitational effect needed for normal physiology. This probably wouldn’t be done immediately, though.