Cosmic Radiation Made Rats Smarter

Video: Cosmic Radiation Made Rats Smarter

Video: Cosmic Radiation Made Rats Smarter
Video: Rays in the universe: cosmic radiation 2024, March
Cosmic Radiation Made Rats Smarter
Cosmic Radiation Made Rats Smarter
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Cosmic radiation made rats smarter - rats, space, experiment
Cosmic radiation made rats smarter - rats, space, experiment

A team of Russian researchers studied on the example rats the influence of galactic cosmic rays on the psycho-emotional state and mental abilities, determining a number of positive effects from exposure radiation.

Writes about this russian.rt.com.

As a result of an experiment simulating a flight into deep space, the researchers found that the results of intelligence tests in irradiated rats were higher than in individuals from a control group that were not exposed to any effects.

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Scientists are also testing the possibility of treating serious diseases with cosmic radiation. According to them, radiation has a positive effect on the functioning of the central nervous system.

Domestic specialists from the Research Center for Psychiatry and Narcology named after V. I. V. P. Serbsky, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov, found out that cosmic radiation can positively affect the brain and mental abilities.

This was reported by the press service of Moscow State University with reference to the publication in the journal Neuroscience. Financial support for the work was provided by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.

When exploring deep space, mankind will definitely have to deal with cosmic radiation - ionizing radiation in interplanetary space, which penetrates physical barriers and negatively affects organisms.

On Earth and in near-earth orbit, its effect is minimal, so scientists simulated the dosage and composition of galactic rays in laboratory conditions, and used rats as subjects.

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As a result of the ground experiment, it turned out that, despite the negative effects of exposure to radiation, equal to exposure after an 860-day interplanetary mission, the psychoemotional state and mental abilities of the experimental animals improved. The irradiated animals performed well on intelligence tests and outperformed the control rats.

“In the light of the latest data on galactic cosmic rays, it is appropriate to speak as one of the factors of space flight, while quite recently it was believed that due to radiation effects, interplanetary flights of a person are impossible in principle. This study … removes the "biological limit" from deep space missions, "says the lead author of the study - senior researcher at the Laboratory of Psychopharmacology at the Research Center for Psychiatry and Narcology. V. P. Serbian Victor Kohan.

According to him, the most interesting is the study of the positive effects of ionizing radiation on the functions of the central nervous system, in particular, to identify new therapeutic approaches to the treatment of diseases of the nervous system, such as incurable clinical depression with drugs, Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

"The team is working in this direction, and soon will be presented data on the effects of irradiation with heavy charged particles on the course of the neurodegenerative process," - said the scientist.

As shown by cognitive tests, after irradiation, rats, especially young rats, became more anxious. At the same time, the animals showed higher indices in tests for orientation in space compared to the control groups.

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