I recently read an article about scientists are trying to get a way to put people on Mars and colonize it. I found this idea interesting and wanted to read more to see how the scientists planned to accomplish this huge feat.
The article told that scientist had the idea of tweaking the human body’s DNA for better resistance to the harsh microgravity and radiation in outer space. Tests with injecting tardigrade DNA into human cells already were successful, making the tardigrade-infused cells to be more resilient than plain old human cells. I found this kind of fascinating and inhumane at the same time.
The idea of modifying out bodies just seems really bad in my opinion, Modifying a whole body with it is so much more different than injecting a clump a cells with foreign DNA. Imagine the person, who’s life will be changed forever, and we have no idea of what side effects this may include.
The next topic of the essay is about the idea of using tiny microbes to terraform the surface of Mars to be more Earth-like and habitable for humans. Scientists are worried that this may destroy evidence of life and the natural history of Mars. While it is an interesting idea, I have to agree with the naysayers, because there is so little known about Mars, and using these microbes could potentially destroy our opportunities of learning more about our closest neighbor.
This entire article was very fun to read. I liked seeing all the amazing ideas we humans can come up with. The idea of using microbes on Mars is completely inconceivable to me. But we always must remember that no matter how many creative ideas we come up with, we must remember to not ruin the resources we have in our world.