Submission + - Germs taken into space come back deadlier
westlake writes: "It sounds like the plot for a scary B-movie: Germs go into space on a rocket and come back stronger and deadlier than ever. Except, it really happened. In a medical experiment, salmonella carried about the space ahuttle in the fall of 2006 proved far more lerhal to lab mice than their earth-bound source. 90% dead vs. 40% dead in twenty-six days, with half the mice dying at 1/3 the oral dose. 167 genes in the strain had changed. The likely casue: In microgravity the force of fluids passing over the cells is low, similiar to conditions in the gastrointestinal tract, and the cells adapted quickly to the new environment. Germs taken to space come back deadlier"
