The Naked Scientists Podcast Space travel alters the body, and chronic pain on the mind
Apr 10, 2026
Nicholas Bellono, Harvard researcher decoding octopus mating arms. Trevor Robbins, Cambridge neuroscientist probing how chronic pain reshapes the brain. Marta Favara, Oxford social scientist tracking childhood poverty across lifetimes. Kevin Fong, doctor and former NASA staffer on space medicine and bodily effects of microgravity and radiation. Short, punchy conversations on space physiology, childhood inequality, pain-related brain change, and octopus chemo-sensing.
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Lunar Missions Face Elevated Radiation Risk
- Traveling beyond low Earth orbit exposes crews to much higher radiation because Earth's magnetic field no longer shields charged particles.
- Fong highlights the acute worry is a large solar particle event that could dramatically increase radiation flux during lunar missions.
Space Food Evolved From Tubes To Palatable Meals
- Space food has dramatically improved since Apollo, moving from meat pastes in tubes to pasteurized, irradiated or dehydrated menus optimized for morale.
- Kevin Fong recounts tasting space prawn cocktail and explains no microwaves or kettles force creative food tech choices.
Longitudinal Data Reveals Uneven Progress Against Poverty
- Young Lives longitudinal tracking of 12,000 youths across Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam shows overall health and nutrition gains but large unequal pockets remain.
- Marta Favara emphasises improvements are fragile and uneven, with persistent undernutrition in some countries and rising obesity in others.