Maya Brinster

Bio 10H | Mr. Ippolito

January 13, 2019

Current Event 13

Eschner, Kat. “Good News: Space Bacteria (Probably) Aren't Evolving to Destroy Us.” Popular Science, 10 Jan. 2019, www.popsci.com/space-bacteria-evolving.

For current event 13, I read Kat Eschner article entitled “Good News: Space Bacteria (Probably) Aren’t Evolving to Destroy Us.” In the article, she explains the popular fear that bacteria carried by spaceships into space will adapt to conditions and potentially become harmful to humans. However, Eschner says that in reality, there is an extremely small chance that this is actually possible. She explains, “While space holds plenty of other terrors, new research suggests that bacteria we bring with us from Earth are more likely to evolve to survive alongside the spaceship’s human crew.” This study was conducted through mSystems, which shows that bacteria are actually jut adapting to survive, and not to harm us. In the study, genomes of bacteria that had very contrasting lifestyles from the International Space Station (ISS) and ones on Earth were compared. Although the bacteria from the ISS were genetically different from those on Earth, these differences did not make the bacteria in the ISS more dangerous or harmful than the bacteria on Earth. Researchers of the experiment explain, “the most crucial bacterial functions involved in this potential adaptive response are specific to bacterial lifestyle and do not appear to have direct impacts on human health.” Although there is still much more to learn and research about the bacteria, as of right now, there is no sign of any potential threat to life on Earth because of the bacteria in space.

This article has a great impacts on me as well as many other readers. Before this, many people were suspicious and paranoid that the bacteria could be harmful and could even take over life on Earth, leading to the destruction of all humans. However, because of the article, these fears are almost completely eliminated, as strong evidence suggests that there is nothing to be afraid of. This also impacts people who weren’t worried about bacteria specifically, but about other potential threats in space. Because life forms that people were so afraid of aren’t actually dangerous, other parts of space shouldn’t be stressed about until there is substantial evidence to either prove or contradict the fears.

The article was very helpful and informative. I liked how the Eschner wrote for a wide span of reading levels. Teens like me could thoroughly understand what she was writing about because it wasn’t extremely sophisticated, but it wasn’t extremely elementary either, so there was a perfect balance to satisfy a large range of ages. She also made sure to include detailed information about the study conducted and information given by important scientists, which backed up her writing and arguments thoroughly. However, I do feel as if her writing was a bit repetitive, as I found her repeating the same idea multiple times. If she just stated this once, her argument could have become much stronger. Overall, I enjoyed reading Eschner’s article and learning more about the bacteria in space.