This episode of Because Science is sponsored by Captive State. This is how Captain Marvel survives space. Even in the most extreme environments earth has to offer you can find life. Life under constraint is simple but these so-called extremophiles survive and thrive. For example, here in the Atacama Desert a place so desolate that NASA uses it as a stand-in for Mars you can find cyanobacteria here photosynthesizing and dividing and doing whatever else they do. Deep below the ocean's surface you can find the extremophilic archaea Pyrococcus surviving and thriving under pressure pushing down on them equivalent to that at the very bottom of the Mariana Trench. (water bubbling) As far as we know though there are no what I call cosmophiles organisms specifically adapted to survive and thrive in space. So what would it take to turn one of the most extreme environments that we know of into your playground?
This thought experiment comes to us from Captain Marvel. In the comics and the film the Carol Danvers version of Captain Marvel is cosmically powerful. Souped up with genetics accidentally rewritten by technology possessed by aliens called the Kree. Aside from the energy blasts and flight though, the superpower that really stands out to me is Carol's ability to survive in the vacuum of space unprotected. Space is basically the opposite of everything complex life needs. So what would have to change physiologically and genetically in order to make Captain Marvel or a human like you or me able to withstand prolonged void exposure? We've talked about the potential dangers of unprotected exposure to vacuum many times on this program but let's go even more into detail this time just so we can figure out ways to counteract all these dangers.
Remove the pressure around a gas and that gas will expand too and if that gas is in a vessel the gas can expand so much that the vessel itself pops. (balloon popping) And I bring this up boiling, bloating, and popping because in space, more or less the same thing happens to you. (balloon popping) Huh. (exclaims) Just so we can ignore reality for a second in space the pressure is effectively zero and so just like liquids and gases on earth can boil and expand as the ambient pressure is lowered. In space the human body when exposed to vacuum will have all of its bodily fluids boil. This can lead to a grotesque bloating (popping) (stretching) of the human body up to two times the normal size. The good news is that you probably won't pop like a balloon because the human body has skin that is fairly elastic.
The bad news is this isn't even the worst part. When you breathe in air on earth, the oxygen in that air is at a higher pressure than the oxygen flowing around in the tissues in your lungs' alveoli the little tiny sacs inside of your lungs that help exchange gas with the atmosphere so you know you can respirate. But in space again it's effectively at zero pressure and so instead of air going in. If you try to breathe in space all of the gases in your blood will go out (air hissing) exchange themselves with the void leaving you with almost nothing and it will exchange violently. If you find yourself in space your first instinct might be to hold your breath but you can't hold your breath in space. Because of the lack of pressure, you will just have one atmosphere or thereabouts of pressure 14.7 pounds per square inch inside of your airways that wants to get out. And so it will violently force its way out along with all of the other gases in your blood.
As it does so it will freeze your airways and your tongue and then all of that deoxygenated blood will make its way to your brain and in about 10 seconds you will lose consciousness and you will have ruptured (loud pop) all of your delicate lungs' infrastructure. Oh, it's way (unclear) (deflating) (crackling) (crackling) (crackling) (crackling) If we wanted to move around in space like Captain Marvel we'd have to deal with space's other dangers as well. Space is unbelievably cold but oddly enough it's very hard to cool down in space. Without any air without anything touching you the only way to exchange heat with the environment is through radiation the slowest and least efficient heat transfer mechanism. So despite what you may have seen in the movies immediately freezing over when exposed to the void isn't really realistic. What would happen is your eyes might frost over and your tongue as well as moisture boils off of them.
But there's not much in the way of actual cooling. A body floating around in the vacuum of space will have to deal with another kind of radiation too. Cosmic rays and ultraviolet radiation from stars will slam into your skin increasing your risk of cancer and damaging and destroying DNA and giving you severe sunburn in just seconds. If Captain Marvel wait wait wait wait (exhales) (sizzling) (inhales) Knowing all the dangers facing Danvers now we can start speculating about the kinds of changes that would make a humanoid more space worthy. Let's start by looking at a group of basically aquatic people. (cries) (crashes) Do you know what your spleen does? It's okay, I forgot too. Your spleen stores white blood cells and platelets and most importantly for our purposes a reserve volume of red blood cells. These red blood cells carry oxygen and so when you need them your spleen can squeeze this reserve volume into your bloodstream to help us get more oxygen into our blood to help us function in low oxygen environments like deep underwater.
In 2018 scientists reported in the journal "Cell" that they had found something very curious in the bodies of southeast asian men and women who spent most of their days diving. These so-called sea nomads had giant spleens. Spleens 50% larger than the average person's. After hundreds or even thousands of years of this population of people subjecting themselves to the most extreme low O2 environments that we know of every day on purpose. Evolution had selected genetically for them to have larger spleens which would give them larger red blood cell reserves which allowed them to go for longer without breathing underwater.
This is a genetic change and points us in the right direction for what would have to change genetically in Captain Marvel. Before we get there though we should examine one more animal the only animal to ever survive the vacuum of space. Oh (splash) Water bears, moss piglets, tartigrades whatever you want to call them. These little animals Scott! Could you help me out? These little animals are arguably the heartiest animals on earth. Water bears have some absolutely crazy stats. Some species can withstand crushing pressures of up to six thousand atmospheres. That's like surviving being crushed between my two hands if I was pushing with half a million pounds of force. Tardigrades can withstand five thousand grades worth of radiation this is thousands of times more radiation than you or I can survive and yes that includes even cockroaches this is higher than. Water bears can survive in subzero temperatures for thirty years and most famously in an experiment in 2007 water bears survived direct exposure to space for an entire 10 days.
We don't exactly know how the water bear accomplishes all these crazy numbers but we know it has something to do with cryptobiosis which is a metabolic response to harsh conditions. When exposed to something like the vacuum of space a water bear's metabolism slows way down to just a fraction of what it was and it loses all but 1% of its water. Whatever Captain Marvel's genetics are doing they are likely tardigradian in function if not form. Moss piglets return to me! That's my superpower. (exclaims) Now we have all the variables the characteristics of void exposure and animal solutions to similar-ish problems. So now we can start thinking about what the Kree's technology did to Brie's body in the movie. (laughs) Play nice (yells) Canonically Kree augmentation made Captain Marvel's skin here denser than the average person and she is stronger than the average person and she wears a dope suit. These story elements help us in one of two ways.
First, her denser skin may be able to more resist expansion when the fluids in her body boil and that suit may be able to counteract some of the pressure differentials and keep more of her body's fluid fluid for longer and help prevent any potential air embolisms. Captain Marvel's density and strength may allow her to hold her breath in space as well. What if she had a super human epiglottis? The thing in your throat that allows you to eat without inhaling your food. If this was superhumanly strong it could act as a strong valve. Which would seal off her respiratory system and allow her to carry around a kind of portable atmosphere and resist the pressure of the air trying to get back out so that she could hold her breath in space and survive for longer.
Revive within 90 seconds so I'm probably fine with no lasting effects. Specialized Kree genetics could also help solve the void's other problems. Scott! (yelling) Weird. Taking a cue from tardigrades genetic changes to Captain Marvel's DNA could make it a lot less susceptible to radiation damage. If Danvers was out in space having her body bombarded by cosmic rays etc. Her DNA augmented by the Kree could start expressing more protective proteins and efficient genetic repair mechanisms that we know organisms Like the tardigrade have. One of these proteins "Dsup" short for damage suppression is unique to tardigrades and can for example reduce the amount of genetic damage by x-rays by up to 40%. So it's plausible the superhuman Kree genetics might be even more resistant. Big me up Scotty!
The last way to make Captain Marvel more void ready is a bit more radical. We could just straight up change her organs. If humans on earth can evolve larger spleens to deal with low O2 environments it's not that crazy to think that specialized Kree genetics and therefore organs could make her more resistant to the perils of space or there could be something more fundamental going on. In every single air breathing vertebrae that we know of that we've studied there's what we call an innate diving reflex. In response to being underwater the bodies of creatures such as we have our homeostasis' hijacked. Blood is diverted away from the skin and towards internal organs. Heart rate slows way down and spleens release those red blood cells that we talked about earlier. This response is so successful in preparing us for low O2 environments like being underwater that I'm going to come up with and suggest another reflex for Captain Marvel.
How about an innate spacing reflex that in response to some trigger takes everything that we've talked about so far in terms of suggestions and perfectly primes her body for space. And the trigger doesn't even have to be that complicated I mean to trigger the innate diving reflex all you have to do is hold your breath (inhales) (water splashing) (exhales) and wet your nose, your nostrils and your face. My underpants are wet. So how does Captain Marvel survive space? Well the Kree's would have to make a lot of changes but all of them are kind of plausible? With super density and super strength she might be able to handle the lack of pressure in space and with some kind of innate spacing reflex in response to the void her body could trigger a cascade of physiological responses in her DNA and in her organs that would make her more void ready. Of course she wouldn't want to spend all of her time in space indefinitely but she would be able to spend with all these changes a lot more time in space than you or I could.
And with all these changes she would definitely be a hero to Marvel at because science! Now I'm off to save the MCU with time travel probably. (upbeat music) Of course we could go even further and augment Captain Marvel's body such that she stops looking so humanoid we could put a nictitating membrane over her eye which would effectively seal her eye off so that the moisture can stay in there and her eyes wouldn't you know kind of boil and get covered in frost as she went into space but you know maybe she doesn't have that freezing problem because her eyes are on fire! Thanks again to Captive State for sponsoring today's episode. From the director of Rise of the earth of the Apes comes Captive State. Set during a Chicago neighborhood nearly a decade after an occupation by an extraterrestrial force.
Captive State explores the lives on each side of the conflict. The legislature and the resistance. Ten years later Gabriel the catalyst for the resistance rises as their leader sparking a fire that ignites the war for the world. Watch Captive State in theaters March 15th. Thank you so much for watching Douglas and thank you to the super nerds on the Tough SF discord for their help on this episode. Follow Because Science and me at these handles here where you can suggest ideas for future episodes and have you seen it? Go back to the channel on YouTube because we have the science of Mortal Kombat Oh we got episodes live now and we are busting heads and throwing blood darts. You're gonna wanna check it out.
This thought experiment comes to us from Captain Marvel. In the comics and the film the Carol Danvers version of Captain Marvel is cosmically powerful. Souped up with genetics accidentally rewritten by technology possessed by aliens called the Kree. Aside from the energy blasts and flight though, the superpower that really stands out to me is Carol's ability to survive in the vacuum of space unprotected. Space is basically the opposite of everything complex life needs. So what would have to change physiologically and genetically in order to make Captain Marvel or a human like you or me able to withstand prolonged void exposure? We've talked about the potential dangers of unprotected exposure to vacuum many times on this program but let's go even more into detail this time just so we can figure out ways to counteract all these dangers.
Remove the pressure around a gas and that gas will expand too and if that gas is in a vessel the gas can expand so much that the vessel itself pops. (balloon popping) And I bring this up boiling, bloating, and popping because in space, more or less the same thing happens to you. (balloon popping) Huh. (exclaims) Just so we can ignore reality for a second in space the pressure is effectively zero and so just like liquids and gases on earth can boil and expand as the ambient pressure is lowered. In space the human body when exposed to vacuum will have all of its bodily fluids boil. This can lead to a grotesque bloating (popping) (stretching) of the human body up to two times the normal size. The good news is that you probably won't pop like a balloon because the human body has skin that is fairly elastic.
The bad news is this isn't even the worst part. When you breathe in air on earth, the oxygen in that air is at a higher pressure than the oxygen flowing around in the tissues in your lungs' alveoli the little tiny sacs inside of your lungs that help exchange gas with the atmosphere so you know you can respirate. But in space again it's effectively at zero pressure and so instead of air going in. If you try to breathe in space all of the gases in your blood will go out (air hissing) exchange themselves with the void leaving you with almost nothing and it will exchange violently. If you find yourself in space your first instinct might be to hold your breath but you can't hold your breath in space. Because of the lack of pressure, you will just have one atmosphere or thereabouts of pressure 14.7 pounds per square inch inside of your airways that wants to get out. And so it will violently force its way out along with all of the other gases in your blood.
As it does so it will freeze your airways and your tongue and then all of that deoxygenated blood will make its way to your brain and in about 10 seconds you will lose consciousness and you will have ruptured (loud pop) all of your delicate lungs' infrastructure. Oh, it's way (unclear) (deflating) (crackling) (crackling) (crackling) (crackling) If we wanted to move around in space like Captain Marvel we'd have to deal with space's other dangers as well. Space is unbelievably cold but oddly enough it's very hard to cool down in space. Without any air without anything touching you the only way to exchange heat with the environment is through radiation the slowest and least efficient heat transfer mechanism. So despite what you may have seen in the movies immediately freezing over when exposed to the void isn't really realistic. What would happen is your eyes might frost over and your tongue as well as moisture boils off of them.
But there's not much in the way of actual cooling. A body floating around in the vacuum of space will have to deal with another kind of radiation too. Cosmic rays and ultraviolet radiation from stars will slam into your skin increasing your risk of cancer and damaging and destroying DNA and giving you severe sunburn in just seconds. If Captain Marvel wait wait wait wait (exhales) (sizzling) (inhales) Knowing all the dangers facing Danvers now we can start speculating about the kinds of changes that would make a humanoid more space worthy. Let's start by looking at a group of basically aquatic people. (cries) (crashes) Do you know what your spleen does? It's okay, I forgot too. Your spleen stores white blood cells and platelets and most importantly for our purposes a reserve volume of red blood cells. These red blood cells carry oxygen and so when you need them your spleen can squeeze this reserve volume into your bloodstream to help us get more oxygen into our blood to help us function in low oxygen environments like deep underwater.
In 2018 scientists reported in the journal "Cell" that they had found something very curious in the bodies of southeast asian men and women who spent most of their days diving. These so-called sea nomads had giant spleens. Spleens 50% larger than the average person's. After hundreds or even thousands of years of this population of people subjecting themselves to the most extreme low O2 environments that we know of every day on purpose. Evolution had selected genetically for them to have larger spleens which would give them larger red blood cell reserves which allowed them to go for longer without breathing underwater.
This is a genetic change and points us in the right direction for what would have to change genetically in Captain Marvel. Before we get there though we should examine one more animal the only animal to ever survive the vacuum of space. Oh (splash) Water bears, moss piglets, tartigrades whatever you want to call them. These little animals Scott! Could you help me out? These little animals are arguably the heartiest animals on earth. Water bears have some absolutely crazy stats. Some species can withstand crushing pressures of up to six thousand atmospheres. That's like surviving being crushed between my two hands if I was pushing with half a million pounds of force. Tardigrades can withstand five thousand grades worth of radiation this is thousands of times more radiation than you or I can survive and yes that includes even cockroaches this is higher than. Water bears can survive in subzero temperatures for thirty years and most famously in an experiment in 2007 water bears survived direct exposure to space for an entire 10 days.
We don't exactly know how the water bear accomplishes all these crazy numbers but we know it has something to do with cryptobiosis which is a metabolic response to harsh conditions. When exposed to something like the vacuum of space a water bear's metabolism slows way down to just a fraction of what it was and it loses all but 1% of its water. Whatever Captain Marvel's genetics are doing they are likely tardigradian in function if not form. Moss piglets return to me! That's my superpower. (exclaims) Now we have all the variables the characteristics of void exposure and animal solutions to similar-ish problems. So now we can start thinking about what the Kree's technology did to Brie's body in the movie. (laughs) Play nice (yells) Canonically Kree augmentation made Captain Marvel's skin here denser than the average person and she is stronger than the average person and she wears a dope suit. These story elements help us in one of two ways.
First, her denser skin may be able to more resist expansion when the fluids in her body boil and that suit may be able to counteract some of the pressure differentials and keep more of her body's fluid fluid for longer and help prevent any potential air embolisms. Captain Marvel's density and strength may allow her to hold her breath in space as well. What if she had a super human epiglottis? The thing in your throat that allows you to eat without inhaling your food. If this was superhumanly strong it could act as a strong valve. Which would seal off her respiratory system and allow her to carry around a kind of portable atmosphere and resist the pressure of the air trying to get back out so that she could hold her breath in space and survive for longer.
Revive within 90 seconds so I'm probably fine with no lasting effects. Specialized Kree genetics could also help solve the void's other problems. Scott! (yelling) Weird. Taking a cue from tardigrades genetic changes to Captain Marvel's DNA could make it a lot less susceptible to radiation damage. If Danvers was out in space having her body bombarded by cosmic rays etc. Her DNA augmented by the Kree could start expressing more protective proteins and efficient genetic repair mechanisms that we know organisms Like the tardigrade have. One of these proteins "Dsup" short for damage suppression is unique to tardigrades and can for example reduce the amount of genetic damage by x-rays by up to 40%. So it's plausible the superhuman Kree genetics might be even more resistant. Big me up Scotty!
The last way to make Captain Marvel more void ready is a bit more radical. We could just straight up change her organs. If humans on earth can evolve larger spleens to deal with low O2 environments it's not that crazy to think that specialized Kree genetics and therefore organs could make her more resistant to the perils of space or there could be something more fundamental going on. In every single air breathing vertebrae that we know of that we've studied there's what we call an innate diving reflex. In response to being underwater the bodies of creatures such as we have our homeostasis' hijacked. Blood is diverted away from the skin and towards internal organs. Heart rate slows way down and spleens release those red blood cells that we talked about earlier. This response is so successful in preparing us for low O2 environments like being underwater that I'm going to come up with and suggest another reflex for Captain Marvel.
How about an innate spacing reflex that in response to some trigger takes everything that we've talked about so far in terms of suggestions and perfectly primes her body for space. And the trigger doesn't even have to be that complicated I mean to trigger the innate diving reflex all you have to do is hold your breath (inhales) (water splashing) (exhales) and wet your nose, your nostrils and your face. My underpants are wet. So how does Captain Marvel survive space? Well the Kree's would have to make a lot of changes but all of them are kind of plausible? With super density and super strength she might be able to handle the lack of pressure in space and with some kind of innate spacing reflex in response to the void her body could trigger a cascade of physiological responses in her DNA and in her organs that would make her more void ready. Of course she wouldn't want to spend all of her time in space indefinitely but she would be able to spend with all these changes a lot more time in space than you or I could.
And with all these changes she would definitely be a hero to Marvel at because science! Now I'm off to save the MCU with time travel probably. (upbeat music) Of course we could go even further and augment Captain Marvel's body such that she stops looking so humanoid we could put a nictitating membrane over her eye which would effectively seal her eye off so that the moisture can stay in there and her eyes wouldn't you know kind of boil and get covered in frost as she went into space but you know maybe she doesn't have that freezing problem because her eyes are on fire! Thanks again to Captive State for sponsoring today's episode. From the director of Rise of the earth of the Apes comes Captive State. Set during a Chicago neighborhood nearly a decade after an occupation by an extraterrestrial force.
Captive State explores the lives on each side of the conflict. The legislature and the resistance. Ten years later Gabriel the catalyst for the resistance rises as their leader sparking a fire that ignites the war for the world. Watch Captive State in theaters March 15th. Thank you so much for watching Douglas and thank you to the super nerds on the Tough SF discord for their help on this episode. Follow Because Science and me at these handles here where you can suggest ideas for future episodes and have you seen it? Go back to the channel on YouTube because we have the science of Mortal Kombat Oh we got episodes live now and we are busting heads and throwing blood darts. You're gonna wanna check it out.
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