Last week on the podcast we talked about space health.…

Last week on the podcast we talked about space health. Specifically, we told you about a new paper discussing the role that 1 will have to play in determining which citizens are fit enough for 2 jaunts into space. Now let's leap ahead, and much farther afield. What kinds of issues might a crew of astronauts face on a longer 3 —say, a round-trip to Mars? To find out, six volunteers spent a record 520 days confined to a simulated space 4 near Moscow. They emerged in 2011. Now a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that the 5 spaceflight did have real effects. Removed from natural light and the rhythms of everyday life, four crewmembers 6 some type of sleep disturbance. And one exhibited signs of chronic sleep deprivation during regular alertness tests. Overall, the crew also became more sedentary with time. The researchers conclude that a real Mars mission would need to incorporate tactics such as timed light 7 or exercise to keep astronauts' circadian rhythms on beat. Because it would be a bad idea to land on Mars sleepy and out of shape.