Salmonella In Space

Salmonella, the bacteria responsible for many illnesses and some deaths yearly, was sent to ISS by NASA to be studied in microgravity conditions, and the results show Salmonella is even more virulent there than it is on Earth. NASA researchers hypothesize that might be because microgravity is similar in some physical characteristics to the environment of fluidity found in the human gut. The same basic reasoning underlies the practice of astronauts training for spacewalks doing so underwater.

NASA hopes that studying Salmonella in microgravity can lead to new medical approaches to the disease-- both for astronauts in space and people on Earth.

Of course, such an approach won't stop at one disease. Studying how life generally behaves in various gravitational environments promises deeper insights into its fundamental workings. Manufacturing useful chemical compounds-- medicines-- in microgravity that cannot be manufactured at the bottom of Earth's gravity well is also a distinct possibility. Indeed, if such medicines are found to cure some of the real plagues of humanity, that could be the spark that finally establishes private enterprise beyond Earth.