Short Wave - Micro Wave: Mighty Mice, Drugs And Hopes For Space Voyagers

Episode Date: September 25, 2020

NPR Science Correspondent Jon Hamilton gives us an update on those mighty mice that went into space this past winter. The results could have big implications for the future of space travel.Check out the study to learn more about the results.Also, since it's a Micro Wave, we hear some listener mail from you! Which you can always send us by emailing [e-mail] pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Hey, everybody, Maddie Safai here with the indisputable John Hamilton science correspondent. Hey, John. Hey, always a pleasure, Maddie. So we've pulled you in for one of our short segments stacked with science facts, which we call microwaves. Ooh, clever. Good thing it's not nanowaves or we'd be done already. John, I like that nerd energy. Keep that for the rest of the show. Okay. I'm really excited about this episode, John, because we're doing something that we don't always get to do on the show. We're going to revisit an experiment we talked about from earlier in the year, which now has some sweet, sweet peer-reviewed results. Yeah, that is right, Maddie.

You know, back in January, you and I were talking about these genetically modified mice, the ones that have these huge muscles. They had just come back from space. And now the researchers who created these mice, they have published their findings, which are most excellent. So today on the show, what researchers have learned from the mighty mice who traveled to space. And what it could mean for astronauts making long journeys into the great unknown. Okay, John, so let's start with the problem that these mighty mice are helping to solve, which has to do with what happens to animals, including people, when they spend long periods of time and space. Right. The problem is that without the force of gravity, bones and muscles atrophy.

Astronauts used to lose up to 20% of their muscle mass during just a couple of weeks in orbit. So now they spend two hours a day exercising, but they still lose muscle and bone. And researchers have been looking for a way to prevent that. Which is why back in December, they sent up some mighty mice into space. Honestly, John, I cannot get enough of that theme song. It's good. Yeah, catchy, right?

You know, I was lucky enough to be invited to the launch by the lead researchers. that's Sejin Lee at the Jackson Laboratory and Emerley Germain Lee at the University of Connecticut. So I was hanging out with them in Florida when these mice got rocketed up to the International Space Station. Getting close to the two-minute morning.

I feel like our heart and soul is going up in that thing, you know? It was a pretty great moment. And, you know, the idea was to send 40 mice to the space station for a month, where they would live in what's called microgravity. And the researchers wanted to answer a couple of questions.

One was, will these genetically engineered mighty mice stay mighty? The question is, will they lose any of that muscle mass? And then if they do lose, then will they lose at the same rate as normal mice? Will they end up at the same place as normal mice? Will they be somewhat protected and so forth? The other question involves a drug that shuts down this regulatory mechanism that usually limits the growth of muscle and bone. So it's like flipping a switch, a few individuals.

injections, and at least on Earth, you can see the bones start to get more dense, the muscles start getting bigger. Right. And from the paper, and I'm very generally summarizing here, the experiment looked at different groups of mice that were sent into space. Regular mice who didn't get the drug, mice who did get the drug, and those genetically modified mighty mice, the ones that are just like already yoked. Yeah, pretty much. You had a control group, the treatment group, and these super freaky buff rodents. So what did they find, John? Well, the mice made it to the station fine, and while they were circling the earth, you know, they were floating around in their cages, they all got a lot of exercise. Once they get up there, they become very active. And in fact, they have a name for racetracking because they're, you know, running around quite a bit.

They stayed up there for like a month and splashed down off the coast of California. They were rushed from their capsule to a lab in San Diego. And Lee says the typical mice, you know, the ones that did not receive any time. treatment, those mice lost about 10% of their muscle mass. And bone loss was an even bigger problem. They lost a substantial amount of bone in space, and then even after being on Earth, they actually continued to lose a little bit more bone mass. But the genetically modified mighty mice didn't lose muscle and only lost a little bit of bone. And the mice that got the drug, Lee told me they did even better. The drug was effective not just in preserving the muscle mass.

and bone mass that was being lost, but they actually caused the muscles and bones to grow. Wow, that's wild, John. It is. And, you know, it's potentially really a big deal because, you know, you can't genetically modify astronauts, at least not yet. But you can give them a drug. Yeah, John. I mean, this seems like good news for the researchers. I mean, I've done a fair bit of mouse experiments in my day, but, you know, none of them were sent to the International Space Station.

That's a lot of pressure for an experiment. Yeah, yeah, it is. You only get one chance. All kinds of stuff could go wrong. And while the mice were in orbit, you know, the scientists had to depend on the astronauts to do things like inject this drug into the animals. You know, it probably helped that at least one member of the crew, that would be Jessica Meir has a PhD in biology. Right, right. Okay. So, John, how close are we? I have to imagine we're not ready to like put this in astronauts quite yet and shoot them up and avoid all these problems. No, not yet. you know, Emily Germain Lee told me she thinks it's a really encouraging step. They had a phenomenal response to the drug without apparently any bad side effects. That's not necessarily something that we could extrapolate to humans. Right. And to be fair, John, no side effects yet. Plus, as, you know, Emily inferred, mice aren't humans.

They're not, not even mighty mice, or maybe I should say especially not mighty mice. There have been several efforts to turn similar drugs into therapies for people, and those efforts so far have failed. Pharmaceutical companies have done human trials, and either the people in the studies didn't put on as much muscles expected or there were side effects. It just hasn't worked yet. But the scientists are really determined, and not just because they want to help astronauts. Bone and muscle loss is a major health problem for millions of people. It's something that happens with age. it can also be the result of a disease or pretty much anything that leaves a person bedridden or inactive for long periods.

It turns out bed rest is a lot like being in microgravity. So getting a drug that could reverse muscle and bone loss, it would be a huge advance. Okay, John Hamilton. Thank you for bringing this update to your story back in January. As always, it has been a delight. You are most welcome. Okay. All right, bye-bye.

Appreciate you. Talk to you later. Bye. And now we're going to wrap up as. we often like to do with these microwaves with a few notes from you, our lovely listeners. Our first one comes from Jason Troutman. Here's part of the letter in which he talked about our recent announcement to cut back on episodes. It says, I 100% support your decision to slow down the pace. Definitely don't want anyone to get burned out, especially during these

trying times. It would also be tragic if in trying to post every weekday, the quality of the show suffered from the grind of a constantly looming deadline. Jason, you get it, without the full resources available as in the before times. I agree, Jason. Thank you. That means a lot to us. Jason is a former chemist, an Air Force acquisition guy, and a parent trying to e-teach his kids. And Jason, from the sounds of things, you've got a lot on your plate as well. So be sure to take care of yourself. All right, next up, in response to our episode about super slippery toilets that were tested using synthetic poop, we joked that the recipe for artificial poop was in the scientific article. Listener Pam Jones wrote, my 11-year-old son and I love your show. Of course,

he wants the poop recipe. Pam, don't we all? And I am here to serve. So here it is. Get a little pen and paper. All right, here we go. I'm going to give you a second. Three parts yeast. One part cillium, which is in fiber supplements. two parts peanut oil, one part miso, one part polyethylene glycol, which you can find in laxatives, but maybe I would just leave it out, honestly. One part calcium phosphate, and just a dash of cellulose. Delicious. And one thing here, shortwave is in no way liable for how this recipe gets used by its listeners. Please be responsible and hilarious.

Today's episode was produced by Rebecca Ramirez and edited by Jeff Brumfield, Aurella Zabidi checked those facts. Have a fun and safe weekend, everybody, and we'll see you back here next week.