9 Big Problems With Future Scientific Breakthroughs

6. Living In Space

Short of inventing faster-than-light travel, one solution to how humans might travel vast interstellar distances is to load a bunch of them onto a generation ship. These starships would be designed to be crewed by many subsequent generations before reaching its destination but, in order to do this, the humans on board would have to make some babies.

The only problem is that we don't really know how this would work in a zero-g environment such as space. We already know that microgravity is not all that great for the adult human body - astronauts aboard the ISS experience bone loss, muscle atrophy, blood loss, swelling of the optic nerve and space sickness - so the good lord only knows how it would affect a developing foetus or growing child.

The constant stress of growing up under the influence of gravity is a major driving force behind what makes us human-shaped. A growing human in zero-g might have the appearance of a rickets sufferer, which exceptionally weak bones, a weak heart, and a predisposition for alzheimer's. They would also be less able to adapt to a gravitational environment due to the abnormal development of the inner ear.

All of this aside, we don't even know if it's possible to conceive in space anyway. The actual mechanics of sexytime would be awkward at best, and getting sperm to swim in the right direction could be impossible. We might have to rely on IVF treatments for interstellar travellers.

Basically, it looks like our potential for long-term space travel could hinge on our ability to produce reliable artificial gravity, or resign ourselves to mutant space babies that could never land on a planet again.