As NASA handles the intricacies of landing on a planet millions of miles away, closer to home they spend our tax dollars to determine whether or not black mold can live on Mars. Okay, I guess it seems important if we are planning to colonize Mars. Whether you are looking to buy a new home down the street, or breaking into the space frontier, knowing if mold will live in your dwelling deserves attention. As a functional medicine kind of doctor, I may question my tax dollars, but I do understand that astronauts don’t want any mold hitchhikers in their Mars home away from home. From what I have heard, there are no remediators on Mars.
Our news report of the day describes a series of near-earth space experiments in which scientists evaluated the chances of survival that mold held on Mars. Thankfully, they have not yet contaminated Mars with any black mold. Mold did survive the space flights and like cockroaches seems to survive under any extreme conditions. Still, my recommendation would be to establish a good remediator astronaut trained in proper space remediation before inviting mold trouble.
Beyond the attempt at humor, I do find it interesting that mold survival some space conditions during the testing. I also find it interesting that they are testing mold when the “world” of medicine knows that mold does “not” make people sick. These two facts seem to go against the conventional consensus that mold is easily killed in your home and that we don’t need to worry about mold. Apparently, NASA has some concerns.
Meanwhile, back on earth, we return to our daily activities of caring for mold and all the symptoms it dumps on patient’s lives. Our patients tell stories of all sorts of weird symptoms. Some sets of symptoms have names like POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) or MCAS (mast cell activation syndrome). Others just suffer ear ringing, breathing troubles, weird internal vibrations, unexplained rashes, mood imbalances, crazy hormone issues, relentless insomnia, and more. Hopefully astronauts can live healthier more abundant lives free of mold on Mars.
News Article
MSN News. NASA finds black mold fungus can survive on Mars — and it poses a threat to astronauts. By Prabhjote Gill. Published 22-02-2021. Accessed 03/19/2021.
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/science/nasa-finds-black-mold-fungus-can-survive-on-mars-e2-80-94-and-it-poses-a-threat-to-astronauts/ar-BB1dTUPH
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
