Astronaut Scott Kelly launched into space on a one-year mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015. He was weightless for 340 days. His identical twin brother, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, stayed on Earth. Because they are identical twins, Scott and Mark Kelly share almost all the same genetic material, or DNA. They agreed to let scientists study them before, during, and after Scott’s mission to find out what a year floating in space may do to the human body. The investigation is known as the Twins Study ... and the first results are now in. In the Twins Study, researchers are looking at 10 aspects of the human body. They are doing the investigation for NASA’s Human Research Program. NASA is the American space agency. They introduced some early findings at a conference in Texas last month. At the conference, researchers said that some genetic changes occurred in Scott Kelly while he was in space. John Charles is the chief scientist for NASA’s Human Research Program. He says researchers expected some of those changes. But there was a surprise: a change to Scott’s telomeres. Telomeres sit on the end of chromosomes. Chromosomes are the part of cells that hold DNA. Usually, as people age, their telomeres become shorter. But when he was in space, Scott Kelly’s telomeres did the opposite: They became longer. Charles says usually astronauts have shorter telomeres than other people. He thinks this may be because their intense training on Earth is stressful. So being in space, Charles says, may actually be less stressful.
Title: How Does Long-Term Space Travel Affect Humans?
Content: <div id='article-page'><div id='article-content' data-media-url='//news-app-staging.s3.amazonaws.com' data-base-url='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/space_travel.m4a' data-capture-url='//staging.analytics.lingraphica.com/events/capture_news' data-article-title='How Does Long-Term Space Travel Affect Humans?' data-article-id='2200'><script src='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/javascripts/getscripts.js'></script><link rel='stylesheet' href='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/stylesheets/article.css' type='text/css' /><div class='article'><p><span data-start-time='0' data-end-time='12333'>Astronaut Scott Kelly launched into space on a one-year mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015.</span> <span data-start-time='12333' data-end-time='18042'>He was weightless for 340 days.</span> <span data-start-time='18042' data-end-time='26313'>His identical twin brother, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, stayed on Earth.</span> <span data-start-time='26313' data-end-time='39271'>Because they are identical twins, Scott and Mark Kelly share almost all the same genetic material, or DNA.</span> <span data-start-time='39271' data-end-time='57063'>They agreed to let scientists study them before, during, and after Scott’s mission to find out what a year floating in space may do to the human body.</span> <span data-start-time='57063' data-end-time='66896'>The investigation is known as the Twins Study ... and the first results are now in.</span> <span data-start-time='66896' data-end-time='75458'>In the Twins Study, researchers are looking at 10 aspects of the human body.</span> <span data-start-time='75458' data-end-time='82521'>They are doing the investigation for NASA’s Human Research Program.</span> <span data-start-time='82521' data-end-time='87063'>NASA is the American space agency.</span> <span data-start-time='87063' data-end-time='95396'>They introduced some early findings at a conference in Texas last month.</span> <span data-start-time='95396' data-end-time='107354'>At the conference, researchers said that some genetic changes occurred in Scott Kelly while he was in space.</span> <span data-start-time='107354' data-end-time='115250'>John Charles is the chief scientist for NASA’s Human Research Program.</span> <span data-start-time='115250' data-end-time='120729'>He says researchers expected some of those changes.</span> <span data-start-time='120729' data-end-time='128813'>But there was a surprise: a change to Scott’s telomeres.</span> <span data-start-time='128813' data-end-time='133708'>Telomeres sit on the end of chromosomes.</span> <span data-start-time='133708' data-end-time='141167'>Chromosomes are the part of cells that hold DNA.</span> <span data-start-time='141167' data-end-time='147708'>Usually, as people age, their telomeres become shorter.</span> <span data-start-time='147708' data-end-time='154896'>But when he was in space, Scott Kelly’s telomeres did the opposite:</span> <span data-start-time='154896' data-end-time='157813'>They became longer.</span> <span data-start-time='157813' data-end-time='166083'>Charles says usually astronauts have shorter telomeres than other people.</span> <span data-start-time='166083' data-end-time='174167'>He thinks this may be because their intense training on Earth is stressful.</span> <span data-start-time='174167' data-end-time='182896'>So being in space, Charles says, may actually be less stressful.</span> </p></div><div class='control-buttons-sticky' style='display:none;'><div class='control-buttons'><button title='Back' class='back' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Play' class='play' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Pause' class='pause' style='display:none;'></button><button title='Forward' class='forward' disabled='disabled'></button><button class='finished-reading' style='display:none;'>Done</button></div></div></div><div id='article-media'><div id='media-image'><img src='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/space_travel.jpg'/></div></div><div id='question-content' style='display:none;'><div class='vocabulary_question question-container' data-question-id=8108 data-hint-location='18042' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/what_does_retired_mean.m4a'>What does retired mean?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='stopped working'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/stopped_working.m4a'><span>stopped working</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/grown_in_length.m4a'><span>grown in length</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/worked_in_science.m4a'><span>worked in science</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/traveled_in_space.m4a'><span>traveled in space</span></div></div></div><div class='multiple_choice_question question-container' data-question-id=8109 data-hint-location='57063' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/what_was_the_investigation_called.m4a'>What was the investigation called?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='Twins Study'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/stress_response.m4a'><span>Stress Response</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/space_agency.m4a'><span>Space Agency</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/twins_study.m4a'><span>Twins Study</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/research_program.m4a'><span>Research Program</span></div></div></div><div class='sentence_completion_question question-container' data-question-id=8110 data-hint-location='87063' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/they_introduced__blank__at_a_conference.m4a'>They introduced <span class='blank'>early findings</span> at a conference.</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='early findings'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/shorter_stress.m4a'><span>shorter stress</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/early_findings.m4a'><span>early findings</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/genetic_material.m4a'><span>genetic material</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1682/space_travel.m4a'><span>space travel</span></div></div></div><div class='question-buttons'><button class='skip-button'></button><button class='hint-button'></button><button class='speak-button'></button></div></div></div>
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