Well, this is terrifying.
It seems a bunch of scientists decided to determine the effect of space travel on salmonella bacteria. They packaged a bunch of them up, launched them into space for a few days, and studied their effects on mice when they came back.
The result? The space-germs were THREE TIMES DEADLIER than salmonella that remained on earth. Not only did they kill more mice than the non-space strain, they also killed them faster. The article doesn't mention anything about why the increase in deadliness occurred, but my money's on gamma rays. Or solar flares.
I think the moral of the story is clear: bacteria do not make good astronauts. Not only do they become freakish space mutants, they're also way too small to operate the instruments.
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