More research is needed on the effect of space travel on the brain

Advances in space technology put ever-longer space missions within reach: first to the Moon and then to Mars. But to be able to do this kind of journey safely, we need to get a better idea of ​​how living without Earth's gravity affects astronauts' brains, says Elisa Raffaella Ferri, a cognitive neuroscientist at Birkbeck College in London.

In 2023, NASA provided the crew for a mission that would take people to the moon for the first time in more than fifty years. “In the Artemis program, we keep repeating two words,” Commander Reed Wiseman said last April. “E: We're going.” Promising advances in rocket technology offer exciting possibilities when it comes to space exploration. But as a cognitive neuroscientist who studies the effects of extraterrestrial gravity on the human brain and behavior, I must ask: Are we prepared to meet the health challenges that this new space age brings?