Could a trip to Mars leave an astronaut’s liver looking decades older than it should? Researchers at the University of Central Florida believe they may have found exactly that, and the implications reach far beyond the astronauts themselves.

Led by Professor Michal Masternak, the team set out to understand what prolonged exposure to microgravity and cosmic radiation actually does to the body at a molecular level. Rather than waiting years for natural ageing to unfold, they built a simulated deep space environment in the laboratory, exposing animal models to fourteen days of simulated microgravity alongside doses of galactic cosmic radiation and solar particle events designed to mirror what astronauts would encounter on a journey to Mars.

A classic anatomical illustration of the human liver, the organ at the centre of the UCF team’s findings. Its central role in metabolism makes it especially sensitive to physiological stress, which is exactly why researchers chose it as their focus (Credit : Henry Vandyke Carter)

Within just twenty four hours of radiation exposure, the liver showed a wave of genetic changes strikingly similar to those seen during the natural ageing process. The organ displayed increased cellular senescence, a state in which cells lose their normal function, alongside rising inflammation and fibrosis, changes that, left unchecked, can eventually push an organ toward failure. Masternak’s team focused specifically on the liver because of its central role as one of the body’s key metabolic organs, making it a particularly sensitive early indicator of wider physiological stress.

What makes the findings especially compelling is that they didn’t stop at the laboratory model. The researchers compared their results against real human data, drawn from blood samples collected during NASA’s famous Twins Study and from the civilian Inspiration4 mission. The genetic signatures lined up. That overlap between simulated exposure and actual astronaut biology gives the team confidence that they have identified genuine, meaningful biological targets rather than a laboratory curiosity.

The team pushed the research a step further still, identifying a class of molecules called antagomirs, capable of interacting with the body’s microRNA to influence several of the genetic pathways involved in both ageing and inflammation. It is early stage work, but it points toward a possible future where astronauts on long duration missions could be given targeted protection against this accelerated cellular damage.

Identical twins Scott and Mark Kelly gave NASA a unique way to study spaceflight’s effects on the body, real data the UCF team used to test their own findings against (Credit : NASA)

There is a broader payoff here too, one that reaches well beyond spaceflight. Studying ageing on Earth is notoriously slow, often requiring decades of observation in human subjects. Space, with its harsh combination of radiation and weightlessness, appears to compress that timeline dramatically, offering researchers a rare opportunity to watch the ageing process unfold in a matter of days and weeks rather than a human lifetime. Insights gained this way could eventually feed back into therapies here on the ground, aimed at preserving organ function and slowing age related disease in everyone, not just those who leave the atmosphere.

Masternak is careful to frame ageing as something far more complex than surface level change. It is, in his words, “the gradual and cascading failure of multiple organs and systems happening together,“ and understanding where that cascade begins may be one of the most important open questions in medicine today.

As missions to the Moon and Mars edge closer to reality, this research is a reminder that protecting astronauts and understanding human ageing may turn out to be two sides of exactly the same problem, one that space may help us solve faster than we ever could down here alone.

Source : New UCF Study Links Microgravity, Space Radiation to Accelerated Aging

It was an ordinary day in Crescent City.

Jason Turner and his girlfriend were taking a stroll on Point St. George Beach, picking up leftover Fourth of July fireworks debris along the way, when they noticed a shiny box with nails sticking out of it.

“He went down to pick it up, and I was like, ‘No,’ and then that was the last thing I remembered,” said Pamala Ganfield, 40.

The firework-like explosive blew up in Turner’s hand, causing injuries so severe he lost his left hand and a major part of his arm.

Ganfield described the ordeal as a scene straight out of a horror movie.

“It looked like something out of a murder scene, the way he was bleeding and the way that his hand was gushing,” she said.

Capt. Kyle Stevens of the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office told the San Francisco Chronicle that the office believed the roughly 6-inch-long object was a homemade firework. Authorities were informed of the explosion around 4 p.m. Sunday, and when they arrived they found Turner in a parking lot.

The Sheriff’s Office did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment from The Times.

The 44-year-old was taken to Sutter Coast Hospital in Crescent City, Stevens told the Chronicle, and is now at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

In addition to losing his hand, Turner is experiencing vision and hearing loss, and it’s unknown whether his senses will fully return.

Ganfield said she wasn’t hurt and is prioritizing Turner’s recovery.

“When everything calms down and slows down a little bit, I need to get my hearing checked out,” Ganfield said.

The oldest of Turner’s five children, 24-year-old Ashley, has taken on more responsibility to help care for the family as her father recovers.

“It’s just been around-the-clock calls, around-the-clock updates. It just doesn’t stop,” she said.

She added that she’s grateful Ganfield was with her father at the time.

“I just couldn’t imagine being right there and watching that happen, and she saved his life,” she said.

Ganfield said there was a flash, similar to when a grenade goes off in a film.

She went straight into action. She told The Times she remembers screaming and crying and being completely horrified. She also recalls Turner telling her he needed a tourniquet.

“As he was literally saying that, I was ripping my shirt off because the blood was coming — like, just squirting out of his hand, like a bottle or something,” Ganfield said. “It was so crazy.”

Turner’s family members describe him as an extremely hardworking and selfless person.

He is the provider for the family, and has two children in high school and a son studying mechanical engineering at Fresno City College whom he is supporting financially.

Ashley Turner resides in Visalia, where she’s working as a pharmacy technician.

Although she lives on her own now, she recalls a very warm childhood and has fond memories of her dad doing everything in his power to make sure his loved ones were happy. He is the “rock” of the family, she said.

“He didn’t have the money to do stuff, but he made sure we did everything,” she said. “We did all the sports we wanted to. We did all the fun stuff we wanted to. We had all the new stuff we wanted.”

Growing up, she said, the family celebrated the Fourth of July each year and would light fireworks in their yard. Now she’s worried about what the future holds.

“When I have my kids, how is he gonna play with my kids?” she said. “Is he gonna be able to do the father-daughter dance without his arm?”

Jason Turner is a heavy-equipment operator and logger, and his family is unsure if he’ll be able to go back to work.

“He’s been working my whole life,” Ashley Turner said. “I’ve never not seen him doing anything hard, and I don’t know how he’s now not gonna be able to do it.”

One of the most concerning things about the situation is that someone left such an explosive just lying around.

“There’s no need to mess around with an illegal explosive,” Turner said. “There is no need to leave it lying on the beach.”

Ganfield echoed the sentiment.

“I’m not even sure why somebody would leave something like that on the beach for somebody to find,” she said.

Ashley Turner said the doctors had told her family that her father was recovering quickly and, with hope, would get to go home after two more surgeries.

Though Ganfield said she’s grateful his injuries weren’t even more severe, the trauma is enough to last a lifetime.

“The way his hand was open, it literally looked like it split open like a banana,” Ganfield said. “I am extremely thankful that he is here today because it could have been a lot worse.”