I am fascinated by the progress researchers are making towards a future with viable space travel. From the ASEE aggregator:
The ABC News (1/15, Chang) website reports on the new spacesuit designed by researchers at the European Astronaut Center (EAC), called the Skinsuit. The suit “exerts force” on a wearer, thus helping his or her skeleton from the effects of zero gravity. International Space Station engineer Mamta Nagaraja said, “When we’re on Earth and we walk or run, we put weight on our bones that cause the different cellular processes to signal bone formation to occur. … Without gravity, there’s an imbalance between [bone] formation and resorption, so astronauts lose up to 3 percent of their bone mass per month.” Nagaraja added that there might not be a single answer to combating the problem, so “it’s worth trying these types of research-based efforts to counteract bone loss.”