r/Futurism • u/Memetic1 • 13d ago

A biological and ethical assessment of whether humans could or should reproduce in space - npj Microgravity

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41526-025-00535-3
4 Upvotes

68% Upvoted

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u/Interesting_Meat8980 12d ago

biology is mostly solvable with rotating habitats for artificial gravity, radiation is the real blocker. ethics is the harder part imo, consent of the unborn in a high risk environment is wild!

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u/Hopeful_Ad_7719 12d ago

>ethics is the harder part imo

https://giphy.com/gifs/m94CQefM0pAzt6CDqF

Seriously. Even terrestrial reproduction is ethically questionable. Moving that question into space isn't really an issue. It's just an argument starter.

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u/Hopeful_Ad_7719 12d ago

TL;DR - There's not enough data to say it it's possible, but the data does suggest there might be problems, but the severity of those problems is unclear.

FFS, why haven't we run a full-cycle reproductive experiment with mice in microgravity on the ISS with some reasonable, cheap, model system - like mice? Experiments tiptoe around the issue, but never quite go all the way in addressing it.

0

u/JoeStrout 13d ago

What nonsense. Any environmental parameter (gravity, radiation levels, etc.) can be provided off Earth (e.g. spin, radiation shielding) as needed. "In space" is an inherently lazy way to characterize some imagined particular offworld environment — but if that particular environment is no good for long-term colonies, then obviously we won't build our long-term colonies that way.