We’ve all received the emails, posts and tweets from well-meaning friends: “It takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown. Why tire yourself?” But is it true? Has anyone actually tallied up the facial forces involved? If so, did they account for the full range of smiles we express when amused, contented, excited, proud, satisfied or relieved? And is it true that the very act of smiling can make us happy?
Space travel isn’t all glamor: Body odor and bad breath hang around; food and filth float; emotional pressure builds; weightlessness degrades bone and muscles; the body experiences higher radiation levels; and risks of kidney stones and eye problems mount.
Clearly, astronauts require a pioneering spirit, but near-future space colonists will need more than guts and gusto to thrive en route to, and on, other worlds. What constitutes an ideal astronaut candidate? Should we select space travelers based on genetic risk factors? Could we train colonists from childhood to be better adapted, mentally and physically, to life in space? And would we be willing to go to the extreme of changing what it means to be human?
Anyone can make a bucket list, but why stop with stuff you want to accomplish while you’re alive? Death offers all kinds of opportunities that life simply cannot match: You can be transformed into a diamond, launched in fireworks, propelled in ammunition, or installed as a permanent part of a coral reef community — none of which I would recommend doing while still drawing breath.
Finally, for those who prefer their final resting place out on the final frontier, there’s the ultimate infrequent flyer plan ….
How Space Burial Works
To Star-stuff We Return: The Space Burial Quiz
J.R.R. Tolkien may have talked up their hairy feet, but it’s hobbits’ wrists that interest anthropologists. In this article, I look at how an international team of researchers used Arizona State University’s cutting-edge imaging technology to crack the mystery of Homo floresiensis, a three-foot-tall, 18,000-year-old skeleton nicknamed the “hobbit.”