Outer space is a harsh and unforgiving environment. To get there, astronauts must ride atop complicated rockets that rely on controlled explosions to attain the terrific speeds required to achieve orbit. Out there, spacecraft and spacesuits must...

In 1929 Hermann Noording developed the idea of a large wheel-shaped satellite reminiscent of the space station in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey(1968). In the 1950s Wernher von Braun developed a similar plan for a refueling stop on the way to the...

A concept to build giant stations in space far from Earth and the Moon, L-5 colonies would be cities in space, located in a gravitational node in the Earth-Moon system. These colonies would be home to tens of thousands of people each, and serve as...

Many things about Mars would remind a settler of Earth, but some things are quite different. Except for the lack of any vegetation, the sandy, rock-strewn landscape looks much like an earthly desert. Dust devils and blowing dust storms are often seen....

Space colonization (also called space settlement, space humanization, space habitation, etc.) is the concept of permanent autonomous (self-sufficient) human habitation of locations outside Earth. It is a major theme in science fiction, as well as a...

"IMAGINE THAT MARS is a Utopia in which there is complete trust, total harmony, no selfishness and no deceit," Richard Dawkins encouraged readers of The Extended Phenotype, published in 1982. "Now imagine a scientist from Mars try ing to make sense of human life...

In previous articles (1) we have reviewed the anatomy and physiology of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Specifically I would like to call your attention to the length of the intestines of roughly 6 times the height of a person (i.e. a 6 ft...