France’s Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology want volunteers to study the effects of microgravity.
While the race to land on the Red Planet continues, scientists from all around the world have redoubled their efforts in order to make sure that everything goes according to plan. While the engineers are trying to cook up a craft good enough to reach Mars, medical researchers are still trying to understand what goes on inside the human body during spaceflight and what can we in order to counteract the effects associated with prolonged exposure to a space-like environment.
At team of researcher from France’s Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology has recently extended a most unusual invitation. For the purpose of studying the effects of microgravity on the human body, the team requires a team of 24 volunteers. The participants must be all males, with ages between 20 and 45.
Furthermore, those who are interested in partaking in the study should not smoke, have any allergies, and must have a BMI between 22 and 27. Now, the last, and probably the most important condition, they must be willing to lie in bed for at least two months. At the end of the study, the participants will be rewarded with $17,000 cash.
Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Well, it will be not a stroll through the park, that’s for sure. Dr. Arnaud Beck, the coordinator, and organizer of the microgravity experiment declare that the participants will be subjected to some rather intense experiments.
As the head researcher explained, during the first two weeks of the experiment, the male participants will be tested and measured by the team. The purpose of these tests is to determine a point of reference, which will later be consulted.
And now the truly hard part comes. All the participants will have to lie in bed for sixty days or even longer. That doesn’t sound too hard, but, according to Beck, the participants are not allowed to leave their beds and, no matter the nature of their activities, they must always have one shoulder in contact with either the frame or the bed itself. This means that the participants are required to eat, bathe, and even go to the bathroom while lying in bed.
As explained, the purpose of this rather unorthodox experiment is to find out what happens inside the body during spaceflight. Documented cases have suggested that during prolonged space exposure, the bone density decreases and muscle loss occurs.
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