when I was a kid I was just completely
enraptured with the idea of space travel
I love Star Wars I loved all the cool
starships traveling from one planet to
another loved it made me wish that
someday I could travel places that were
new and exciting and maybe sometimes
even a little scary I love the idea of
astronauts floating around and their
spaceships able to see entire continents
at once there was just something inside
me that wanted to explore and to be
amazed
it’s Who I am when I was 13 I got to go
to Space Camp as you could probably
imagine I was thrilled I learned a ton
about the realities of space travel the
history of humans in space and what it’s
like to live without gravity now I’m all
grown up
I still love Star Wars and I’m still
fascinated by the idea of space travel
I’m a college professor and my research
focuses on understanding the mechanical
effects of things like medical implants
diseases and exercise on the human
skeleton I have a lab filled with
students working on all kinds of
wonderful things and one thing that I’m
really personally interested in is
understanding what happens to the human
body when we live without gravity what
I’ve come to realize is that ever since
we launched the first rocket into space
we’ve been struggling with the problem
of gravity to get to space you have to
escape from gravity and once you’re
there you have to deal with life without
gravity what if instead of fighting with
gravity we embraced it what if we could
pack it up in our suitcase and take it
with us on our trip from the moment were
born our lives and our bodies are shaped
by gravity it affects how our blood is
pumped through our bodies
it guides our bones to grow into complex
shapes through millions of years of
evolution gravity has molded the human
body into what it is today it permeates
us down to the level of individual cells
it’s part of who we are and you can’t
ignore who you are if we could just
bring gravity with us when we go into
space it would solve all kinds of
problems that happen in the human body
for example in space you get taller well
hey I’m five eight on my tiptoes where
do I sign up
but maybe it’s not such a good thing
people get taller in space because
they’re intervertebral discs the little
cushions between each of the bones in
your spinal column expand when the force
of gravity is removed and you get taller
the down side has back pain over half of
the astronauts on the International
Space Station report problems with back
pain we think the pain is caused by a
combination of the expanding discs and a
loss of muscle tissue that supports the
spine if you want your muscles to get
strong you workout right
well the muscles that you use to stand
up and walk around get exercise all day
long as you move around the world under
the force of gravity escape from gravity
and all of a sudden those muscles aren’t
getting exercised very much anymore they
get smaller and they get weaker
astronauts lose bone in space to lots of
it our bones are like our muscles you
have to use them if you want them to
stay strong and if you don’t use them
they start to go away especially in
weight-bearing locations like the hips
they get more fragile and easier to
break the last thing you want to do is
make it all the way to Mars and then
break a hip stepping off the lander and
there are all kinds of other changes
that happen the body some of them might
be a little more unexpected for example
when astronauts go to space their
eyeballs change shape
john phillips an astronaut with 20/20
vision came back from the space station
with 2100 vision that means that when he
left he could see perfectly and when he
got home he was nearsighted about 80% of
crew members on the space station
experience altered vision we think this
change is due to a redistribution of
fluid in the body since gravity is not
pushing it down anymore more fluid winds
up in the head pushes on the backs of
your eyeballs and changes their shape
the root of the problem here is that our
machine technology our ability to build
spacecraft that can travel enormous
distances has outpaced our medical
technology so what can we do about all
these problems well the way I see it we
have two options
the first option is what I call the
medical or biological strategy NASA’s
human research program is developing an
entire battery of countermeasures for
this better exercise equipment
nutritional supplements even
osteoporosis drugs seem to be doing a
good job of reducing the changes that
happen in the skeleton and the muscles
for the problem of the changing eye
shape one suggestion has been a small
implantable device that would drain the
excess fluid from the head down to the
body in science fiction movies a lot of
times you see people put into some kind
of suspended animation and maybe we’ll
get there someday but to do that we’re
going to have to understand all of these
different underlying biological
mechanisms and figure out ways to put
them all on hold essentially what I’m
saying is there are a hundred different
problems and we can do our best to try
to address them with a hundred different
solutions the second option is the
all those problems with one solution
replace gravity if we can just replace
gravity or at least simulate it
effectively enough we could cure all
those problems at once how do we do it
in films like 2001 a Space Odyssey and
more recently the Martian there are
spaceships that revolve and spin around
to simulate the effects of gravity we
don’t have a ship like that not yet but
with the rise of commercial space travel
SpaceX Virgin Galactic Boeing and other
companies maybe a ship like that’s not
too far away it could work it would pull
on every cell in your body just like
gravity I think right now it’s our best
bet but maybe just maybe there’s another
solution just outside our grasp
understanding physics to the point where
we can recreate the force of gravity and
put it to good use
physicists can explain the theory of how
gravity works but what we need is a
practical understanding of how to
package it up and take it with us so far
we have the power to observe gravity but
we can’t control it
think about lightning for thousands of
years people saw lightning bolts
shooting out of the sky and they were
amazed and I’m sure sometimes they were
terrified they could observe electricity
but they couldn’t control it just think
of the massive impact it had on our
world once we figured out how to control
electricity and use it to our advantage
we need to do the same thing with
gravity well the good news is we can
make it to Mars and back with the
current medical strategy for a trip to
the surface of Mars and back you’re
looking at a trip that would be one and
a half maybe two years long we’re going
to be asking people to deal with changes
that will alter their bodies permanently
but people will still do it how about
this if you would still like to go on a
trip to Mars after everything I’ve told
you give a little applause
[Music]
we’re going to need a bigger ship but if
we’re going to go further deeper into
the solar system or beyond we are going
to have to change our way of thinking
what if we embraced our limitations
instead of trying to escape from them we
need to work with gravity to make the
science fiction/fantasy of space travel
a reality we don’t have to accept the
idea that escaping gravity is the only
way to me one of the main reasons for
human space travel in the first place is
to learn more about who we are to learn
who we are we have to be who we are we
are human beings and we need gravity
when we go into space we bring air with
us we bring water with us we bring food
with us let’s bring gravity with us –
thank you
[Applause]
[Applause]
enraptured with the idea of space travel
I love Star Wars I loved all the cool
starships traveling from one planet to
another loved it made me wish that
someday I could travel places that were
new and exciting and maybe sometimes
even a little scary I love the idea of
astronauts floating around and their
spaceships able to see entire continents
at once there was just something inside
me that wanted to explore and to be
amazed
it’s Who I am when I was 13 I got to go
to Space Camp as you could probably
imagine I was thrilled I learned a ton
about the realities of space travel the
history of humans in space and what it’s
like to live without gravity now I’m all
grown up
I still love Star Wars and I’m still
fascinated by the idea of space travel
I’m a college professor and my research
focuses on understanding the mechanical
effects of things like medical implants
diseases and exercise on the human
skeleton I have a lab filled with
students working on all kinds of
wonderful things and one thing that I’m
really personally interested in is
understanding what happens to the human
body when we live without gravity what
I’ve come to realize is that ever since
we launched the first rocket into space
we’ve been struggling with the problem
of gravity to get to space you have to
escape from gravity and once you’re
there you have to deal with life without
gravity what if instead of fighting with
gravity we embraced it what if we could
pack it up in our suitcase and take it
with us on our trip from the moment were
born our lives and our bodies are shaped
by gravity it affects how our blood is
pumped through our bodies
it guides our bones to grow into complex
shapes through millions of years of
evolution gravity has molded the human
body into what it is today it permeates
us down to the level of individual cells
it’s part of who we are and you can’t
ignore who you are if we could just
bring gravity with us when we go into
space it would solve all kinds of
problems that happen in the human body
for example in space you get taller well
hey I’m five eight on my tiptoes where
do I sign up
but maybe it’s not such a good thing
people get taller in space because
they’re intervertebral discs the little
cushions between each of the bones in
your spinal column expand when the force
of gravity is removed and you get taller
the down side has back pain over half of
the astronauts on the International
Space Station report problems with back
pain we think the pain is caused by a
combination of the expanding discs and a
loss of muscle tissue that supports the
spine if you want your muscles to get
strong you workout right
well the muscles that you use to stand
up and walk around get exercise all day
long as you move around the world under
the force of gravity escape from gravity
and all of a sudden those muscles aren’t
getting exercised very much anymore they
get smaller and they get weaker
astronauts lose bone in space to lots of
it our bones are like our muscles you
have to use them if you want them to
stay strong and if you don’t use them
they start to go away especially in
weight-bearing locations like the hips
they get more fragile and easier to
break the last thing you want to do is
make it all the way to Mars and then
break a hip stepping off the lander and
there are all kinds of other changes
that happen the body some of them might
be a little more unexpected for example
when astronauts go to space their
eyeballs change shape
john phillips an astronaut with 20/20
vision came back from the space station
with 2100 vision that means that when he
left he could see perfectly and when he
got home he was nearsighted about 80% of
crew members on the space station
experience altered vision we think this
change is due to a redistribution of
fluid in the body since gravity is not
pushing it down anymore more fluid winds
up in the head pushes on the backs of
your eyeballs and changes their shape
the root of the problem here is that our
machine technology our ability to build
spacecraft that can travel enormous
distances has outpaced our medical
technology so what can we do about all
these problems well the way I see it we
have two options
the first option is what I call the
medical or biological strategy NASA’s
human research program is developing an
entire battery of countermeasures for
this better exercise equipment
nutritional supplements even
osteoporosis drugs seem to be doing a
good job of reducing the changes that
happen in the skeleton and the muscles
for the problem of the changing eye
shape one suggestion has been a small
implantable device that would drain the
excess fluid from the head down to the
body in science fiction movies a lot of
times you see people put into some kind
of suspended animation and maybe we’ll
get there someday but to do that we’re
going to have to understand all of these
different underlying biological
mechanisms and figure out ways to put
them all on hold essentially what I’m
saying is there are a hundred different
problems and we can do our best to try
to address them with a hundred different
solutions the second option is the
all those problems with one solution
replace gravity if we can just replace
gravity or at least simulate it
effectively enough we could cure all
those problems at once how do we do it
in films like 2001 a Space Odyssey and
more recently the Martian there are
spaceships that revolve and spin around
to simulate the effects of gravity we
don’t have a ship like that not yet but
with the rise of commercial space travel
SpaceX Virgin Galactic Boeing and other
companies maybe a ship like that’s not
too far away it could work it would pull
on every cell in your body just like
gravity I think right now it’s our best
bet but maybe just maybe there’s another
solution just outside our grasp
understanding physics to the point where
we can recreate the force of gravity and
put it to good use
physicists can explain the theory of how
gravity works but what we need is a
practical understanding of how to
package it up and take it with us so far
we have the power to observe gravity but
we can’t control it
think about lightning for thousands of
years people saw lightning bolts
shooting out of the sky and they were
amazed and I’m sure sometimes they were
terrified they could observe electricity
but they couldn’t control it just think
of the massive impact it had on our
world once we figured out how to control
electricity and use it to our advantage
we need to do the same thing with
gravity well the good news is we can
make it to Mars and back with the
current medical strategy for a trip to
the surface of Mars and back you’re
looking at a trip that would be one and
a half maybe two years long we’re going
to be asking people to deal with changes
that will alter their bodies permanently
but people will still do it how about
this if you would still like to go on a
trip to Mars after everything I’ve told
you give a little applause
[Music]
we’re going to need a bigger ship but if
we’re going to go further deeper into
the solar system or beyond we are going
to have to change our way of thinking
what if we embraced our limitations
instead of trying to escape from them we
need to work with gravity to make the
science fiction/fantasy of space travel
a reality we don’t have to accept the
idea that escaping gravity is the only
way to me one of the main reasons for
human space travel in the first place is
to learn more about who we are to learn
who we are we have to be who we are we
are human beings and we need gravity
when we go into space we bring air with
us we bring water with us we bring food
with us let’s bring gravity with us –
thank you
[Applause]
[Applause]
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