Scientists are only just beginning to investigate how activity in our cells might be affected by exposure to microgravity.
Microgravity is the condition in which people or objects appear to be weightless. The effects of microgravity can be seen when astronauts and objects float in space.
Crucially, experiments on embryonic stem cells, and models of how embryos develop in their first few weeks in space, will help us determine whether it's possible for humans to produce offspring in the extraplanetary colonies of the future.
Besides normal cellular processes, it’s unclear how fertilisation, hormone production, lactation, and even birth itself will be affected by exposure to microgravity.
Scientists are looking at two ways to protect against the adverse effects of microgravity on our biology: intervention at the cellular level, using drugs or nanotechnology, and intervention on the environmental level, by simulating Earth's gravity in spacecraft or off-world colonies. Both fields of study are in their early stages.
Read more in the Conversation.