Phil Carvil, PhDMedTech Cluster Development Manager at STFC, and all-round fitness and Space fanatic!
As mentioned in my previous blog, my major area of interest is human physiology and how the human body responds to exercise stimulus, especially in extreme environments, such as in Space.
On Earth, right now as you sit, stand or walk around, you are being ‘loaded’ by gravity. Your body is designed and has developed to enable you to function on Earth. Your muscles and their deployment (larger muscles in the legs) are designed to let your resist the force of gravity. Your heart and its systems are designed to pump blood in response to signals of how your body is oriented, i.e. when you are laying down as opposed to standing up. The spine is curved in response to gravity. It’s amazing when you think about how much your body works just to maintain itself in gravity – now think about what happens in space when you have microgravity, which means very little gravity.
It is documented that when you are in low Earth orbit (microgravity) for extended periods of time your body adapts. Part of this response is to diminish some of the muscle and its functionality, especially in the lower limbs. When you think about it, this makes complete sense. You work your legs just getting out of bed in the morning – imagine if you didn’t even need to do that? When you undertake physical training, particularly resistance training you build those muscles, they get bigger, stronger in response to the change in demand placed upon them. These muscles need a reason to adapt and change - in microgravity without that demand or need, they atrophy, as they require a lot of energy to maintain. Without that need, the body in its own very efficient way changes. That is why exercise forms such a key component of astronaut training pre-, during and post-flight.
Phil Carvil, PhDMedTech Cluster Development Manager at STFC, and all-round fitness and Space fanatic! My name is Phil Carvil and I recently completed my PhD at King’s College London, undertaking a technical evaluation of the European Space Agency’s SkinSuit, as part of their Networking/Partnering program, in which I investigated how the spine is affected by the axial loading properties of the suit. But how I personally arrived at this point, and in this career, is a little different. My father got me interested in space science through astronomy and science fiction, while my mother aroused my curiosity about medicine through her work as an intensive care nurse. This sparked my initial interest in the fields of space exploration and human physiology. At school I loved science but hated P.E. as I had no confidence in this area and no real understanding of why exercise was good for me. Nonetheless, while at college a friend took me to the gym (nearly kicking and screaming) and it was from that moment on that I started to take part in fitness classes and group exercise, and began to become interested in fitness. Around this time, I was deciding where to do my bachelors degree, which I had planned on doing in astrophysics, however, I was becoming more and more interested in what was happening to my body through exercise and why. What were the mechanisms for the benefit of exercise? How was it working? Did I need to do more/less? These questions drove my decision to undertake an applied BSc in Exercise and Health Science at the University of Chichester. I loved the course so much I went on to do a Masters degree in Sport and Exercise Physiology. I was fascinated with learning how the various physiological systems, heart, lungs, bones, muscles, psychology, all change in response to exercise stimulus. But what began to steer my path more towards space was finding out how extreme environments change our body, how it responds to alterations in temperature, atmosphere and, ultimately, gravity. Gabriela Albandes de SouzaInnovaSpace Culture & Education Project Manager InnovaSpace took another step this week towards achieving its aim of bringing space closer to society, to reach out to underserved communities, and to make science and space more accessible and inclusive, when InnovaSpace founder Thais Russomano gave a virtual lecture about the participation of women in the space programme to an audience of 39 young ladies, aged between 10 and 12 years from two state-run schools in Gravataí, Brazil, as part of a project called ‘Elas no Lab’ (Girls in the Lab). This project is the brainchild of three high school students from the Escola Sesi de Ensino Médio Albino Marques Gomes, a private high school in the same city in southern Brazil. Eduarda Rosa Ferreira, Indáia Pereira de Matos and Júlia Alvares Missel had the idea of creating workshops to raise the interest of young girls to pursue scientific careers, as part of a project led by their Physics teacher Cláudia Fraga Germano. Cláudia set her students the task of developing projects that would benefit state-run schools, which often do not receive sufficient funding to invest in the sciences, and lack proper laboratories and equipment. The activities also involved a rocket building workshop using recycled materials, a VR glasses experience that allowed the girls to virtually “travel around the universe”, the photo and video recording of the activities, and an exclusive Q & A session about space science with Thais Russomano at the end of her lecture. Feedback from the girls who attended the event was very positive, with many celebrating this unique and fun experience of learning about science. Another mission accomplished successfully due to a collaboration of working ideas and ideals in partnership! However, consider this just a first step – as InnovaSpace is proud to announce the launch of a new outreach project called Valentina – more details to be posted soon! Gabriela Albandes de SouzaCulture & Education Project Manager, InnovaSpace At first sight, anthropology and space exploration may seem to be two completely different fields with nothing or very little in common. When one thinks about space exploration, the most common associations are with disciplines such as engineering, physics, medicine, robotics, IT, and others related to the technology required for the endeavour and for keeping humans alive. On the other hand, anthropology is immediately associated with the study of non-Western, non-white and non-industrialised societies. Indeed, at its beginning as an independent academic discipline in the second half of the 19th century, it was very much about this, and only this. Nevertheless, as anthropology is ultimately interested in finding out what it means to be human and how people make sense of the world in the most diverse contexts, its research spectrum has gradually broadened. Nowadays, it embraces the study of any social group and its cultural idiosyncrasies, including scientists and astronauts. Every single society has questioned what there is beyond Earth, the origins of the universe and all that it encompasses, including humankind, and each has found explanations to the unknown phenomena through specific modes of expertise. For some, the Cosmos was created by gods and is the home of powerful deities. Others, in a very specific context – Europe, 17th century – started to systematically study outer space using the emergent scientific methods and technological devices that augmented our senses, turned the invisible visible and went where humans could not. This very specific way of making sense of the world has profoundly changed the imaginary about the Cosmos in some societies and changed the way many people perceive and relate to the universe, to Earth and to all the species that live on our planet. Nowadays, in Western scientific cosmologies, the universe is thought to have been created by the Big Bang and to be ruled by natural laws, which can be translated in mathematical equations. Such a worldview is culturally embedded, therefore space exploration and scientists working on this project are subjects that concern anthropology.
In our previous blog 'What's out there?' we suggested it is never too early to encourage the young to think about space and science. In a follow-up to that item, we present an inspirational video that every young (and not so young) space enthusiast should watch! Spare just 10 minutes of your time to hear the inspirational accounts of 3 female astronauts who were launched into space at 25,000 miles per hour in their journeys to the International Space Station (ISS). Kathryn D. Sullivan and Nicole Stott are former NASA astronauts, who between them spent 127 days in orbit, while in 2006, Anousheh Ansari became the first Iranian in space when she arrived at the ISS as a self-funded space tourist for 9 days.
As of July 2016, only 60 women have flown in space, out of a total of 537 space travellers. Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first women in space on 16th June 1963, when she launched on Vostok 6, and there followed a gap of 19 years before Svetlana Savitskaya became the second women in space (Soyuz T-5, 19th July 1982). Meanwhile, the first US female astronaut to launch was Sally Ride, happening almost 20 years to the day after Tereshkova (Space shuttle Challenger, STS-7, 18th June 1983). Perhaps this short film called Dot of Light, written and directed by Eliza McNitt, in collaboration with Google, will inspire more young ladies to follow the path of the sciences and to dream about one day heading into space, to the Moon, or even Mars.
Blog written by Mary Upritchard Science comes in a kaleidoscope of different shapes and forms and we at InnovaSpace believe it is never too early to encourage young people to think not only about the world around them, but to consider the stars, the universe and beyond. This is exactly what 13-year-old Jack Belmont did when he investigated the Wow! Signal, first spotted in 1977 and once considered by many to be a possible alien radio transmission. As part of a school project linked to science, Jack creatively produced the following video, and InnovaSpace Director Thais Russomano was very pleased to contribute by answering a few questions Jack had. Very well done to Jack and we hope his interest in Space continues. Blog written by Mary Upritchard
In the words of Mario Mollo from Belvedere Marittimo, Italy: "The growing importance of Space as the 'Last Frontier' has increasingly involved Nations from all over the world, both emerged and emerging Nations. But what is the real challenge today? To look at Space as something open to everyone: from government research institutes and industry professionals, to the child playing on the street. InnovaSpace's revolutionary mission is to improve relations between the components to bring new protagonists (emerging nations, young entrepreneurs and scientists) to the scene. It will be this kind of approach that ends Space as a sectoral niche, a vision we know well and characteristic of the latter half of the 20th Century. Undoubtedly, InnovaSpace will lead to the progressive democratisation of Space, ensuring easier access to it, thanks to the "Network of human and material resources" created. I was born in Belvedere Marittimo, in Italy. I'm a physical therapy major. If I've time, I'll do some stargazing. My passion for Space has never ceased since I was a child." Written by Mario Mollo The exhilaration and trepidation of being launched into space is a privilege so far enjoyed by a relatively small number of people; as of May 2017, around 556 people have reached the altitude of space according to the American definition (above an altitude of 80km). However, these figures are set to significantly rise over the coming decades, with the advent of space tourism and a growing desire by nations and private organisations to travel to and settle on Mars. This idea is further reinforced by eminent theoretical physicist and cosmologist Professor Stephen Hawking, who recently expressed the view that humans should leave the Earth within the next thirty years to establish colonies on Mars and the Moon, taking with them a Noah's Ark of plants, animals, fungi and insects, leading to the creation of a new world. The stark reality of the moment is that much is yet to be learned about the effects of long-term exposure to microgravity and radiation on human physiology. We already know that adaptations to reduced-gravity or microgravity environments occur, which can have detrimental consequences for the human bone structure, musculature and eyes, among other things. So much still needs to be researched and solutions found to ameliorate the negative side of living in such an extreme environment, for which the human body was not designed. To this end, new generations of scientists, researchers and doctors need to be nurtured and encouraged to focus on life beyond our planet. Fresh minds and ideas are required, inserted into expanded arenas of learning and discovery in which multidisciplinary teams come together to examine a problem from many and different angles. Traditional centres of learning, such as those promoted by national space agencies, unquestionably have an important role to play in the future of space exploration. Nonetheless, there is yet further scope to develop new centres of learning and research, to increase participation in space at many levels, from national, regional, organisational and individual. One such example is the establishment of a university-based organisation of students, The Glasgow University Space Medicine Society, being the only society dedicated purely to space medicine in Scotland and linked by a common interest in space, space medicine, and space exploration. Established by medical student and space-enthusiast Christina Mackaill, and now running for just a year, the society has already organised several events, such as a talk given by a Mars One finalist, and a debate about colonising the Red Planet, all aimed at stimulating and propagating space-related discussion, thought and ideas. The society also offers help and guidance to those interested in space medicine with links to possible elective opportunities and research. This student-based university society is undoubtedly a mere speck in the universe in comparison to the likes of NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, and the CNSA, but it showcases an instance of gripping and directing the interest and imaginations of young professionals at a grassroots level. It is an initiative for which Christina should be commended and, as such, InnovaSpace is pleased to include the Glasgow University Space Medicine Society among the organisations of its Global Partners & Friends. Blog written by Mary Upritchard |
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