> The article itself is full of caveats and concludes that their finding is inconclusive... Just some example
It's a bad example. Mutations are known to cause various health problems like cancer. It's like randomly writing to the RAM, live: maybe you won't crash the computer immediately, but keep trying and you'll do damages.
The fact there's "no evidence of relevant CVD, cancer, or neurodegenerative diagnoses associated with this given astronaut cohort" shouldn't be surprising, given that astronauts are finely selected for perfect health among a large pool of candidate.
It's like saying "it's totally ok to do drugs or performance enhancer when you're a sports professional player" - no, they will eventually degrade the pro player health too!
Compared to a random person, it might just show later, as they have more of a health capital.
> Unfortunately, though, people far and wide are inevitably going to use this paper as evidence that space travel causes leukemia...
Given everything we know, yes it should, among other things - just like writing to RAM should eventually crash a computer
Mutations acquired during a lifetime are far more common that commonly believed; it's a key aspect of ageing. The astronauts in this study had an average age of 44, by which time they would be expected to have acquired mutations under normal, earthbound, conditions.
To address this, the study compares the number of mutations found in the astronauts with the number found in a broader population with mean age of 58 yrs. Notably, they do not conclude that more mutations were found in the astronauts.
It's a bad example. Mutations are known to cause various health problems like cancer. It's like randomly writing to the RAM, live: maybe you won't crash the computer immediately, but keep trying and you'll do damages.
The fact there's "no evidence of relevant CVD, cancer, or neurodegenerative diagnoses associated with this given astronaut cohort" shouldn't be surprising, given that astronauts are finely selected for perfect health among a large pool of candidate.
It's like saying "it's totally ok to do drugs or performance enhancer when you're a sports professional player" - no, they will eventually degrade the pro player health too!
Compared to a random person, it might just show later, as they have more of a health capital.
> Unfortunately, though, people far and wide are inevitably going to use this paper as evidence that space travel causes leukemia...
Given everything we know, yes it should, among other things - just like writing to RAM should eventually crash a computer