Before you get your hopes up, no NASA is not making weed to be smoked in space. As a matter of fact, if this went through your mind then you should no longer continue living your life. OK, so maybe that was a bit extreme, but just know that this is not the intent. Instead, several researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA and USC claim that they will be the first team to launch fungi in space to develop drugs.
RESEARCHERS AT USC AND NASA EXPLAIN
First off, you should know that certain types of fungi produce important molecules that can be used to make beneficial drugs. Clay Wang, a pharmacology professor at USC, noted how the best reason to do this in space is because it generates the necessary molecules better in stressful conditions. Thus, sending it aboard the International Space Station of NASA could allow it to produce molecules it wouldn’t have on Earth. Wang then goes on to say that his team of researchers have done an extensive amount of research on the topic and found that fungi could produce over 40 drugs. Although per the researchers claim, this is the first fungi to be launched in space for drugs, fungi had been dealt with prior.
FUNGI SURVIVED MARS-LIKE CONDITIONS
So, if we can find a way to morph into fungi then we would be able to survive on Mars for 18 months. I beg the question, though, if researchers will figure out how to morph humans into fungus. Maybe I have been taking some drugs I was unaware of, huh? Anyway, as mentioned earlier, researchers have dealt with fungi in the past. Earlier this year, a study was published where a group of researchers tested how long two species of fungi would survive in Mars-like conditions. They found that after the 18 month period, 60 percent of the cells remained intact. The downside, though, was the researchers found that less than 10 percent of them could form colonies.
