By: Kaydence Yung

In space, astronauts’ brains will become swollen because there is no gravity in the atmosphere, so to try to adapt to the air conditions, fluid builds up in their brains. Researchers reported on June 8 in Scientific Reports that after a space mission, the brains of astronauts don’t shrink back right away, and it might even take three years until their brains return to normal.

Astronauts might need at least three years between flights before their brain is ready to be in space again. Immediately after landing, astronauts exhibit signs of their recent voyage. “Sometimes their faces even look puffy when they first arrive at the International Space Station,” says Rachael Seidler, who studies how the human body adapts to space at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Extra fluid also collects in four chambers in the brain, which are called ventricles. Astronauts often return to Earth with enlarged ventricles. They are filled with liquid that cushions the brain and clears out cellular waste. Seidler says that “in space, the ventricles expand as they take in more fluid.” She and her colleagues wanted to see how time spent in space affected the brain.

They examined MRI scans of the brains of 30 astronauts. Ones taken before each astronaut’s missions were compared to those taken after time in space. The longer the mission, the more that three of the four ventricles seemed to expand. Seidler notes that “the fourth ventricle is very small, so any changes in it may have been too tiny to see.” Spaceflights in the span of two weeks didn’t have much effect, but in both six- and 12- month missions, they had larger ventricles. This study found that longer missions in space had an impact on three of the four ventricles, although no changes were noted in the fourth ventricle due to its small size. The amount was similar after longer trips, suggesting the swelling slows after six months in space.

Donna Roberts, a brain imagining specialist at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charlson said that “I’m glad that the [study] authors took the first step and are looking at this question. There are so many variables that could play into the brain changes that we’re seeing,” she speaks. “It’s hard to sort them out.

Now, Roberts notes, the brain’s effects on spaceflight are even more important. An astronaut could spend two years round-trip on Mars if NASA succeeds in sending people there.

Kaydence, this is a nice draft – you’ve got an effective paragraph structure thats working to organize your thoughts. Be careful of all the ‘they’ and ‘theirs’ – using nouns over pronouns is one way to ensure clarity for the reader, especially in a topic that is as complicated as this one. Clarity and precision are critical in this article because most people don’t have background knowledge about the brain nor space travel, you’re on the right track just double check yourself. Also cite the sources you get the information from – where do you read about the topic?