Twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly pose at Johnson Space Center in Houston
on Jan. 19, 2015, before Scott Kelly's nearly yearlong stay on the International Space Station.
Credit: Robert Markowitz
After a stream of erroneous media coverage about how spaceflight affects astronauts' genes, NASA issued an updated statement yesterday (March 15) about its "twins study" of former astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly.
The study is following changes to Scott Kelly's body after he spent nearly a year in space between 2015 and 2016. His brother and identical twin Mark remained on Earth during that time and is the control subject for the study. In late January, NASA issued an update to its 2017 results that confirmed most of the initial findings.
"Mark and Scott Kelly are still identical twins; Scott's DNA did not fundamentally change. What researchers did observe are changes in gene expression, which is how your body reacts to your environment. This likely is within the range for humans under stress, such as mountain climbing or scuba diving," NASA said in the recent clarification to the Jan. 31 update. [Twins In Space: Astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly in Photos]
NASA's update came after some media outlets initially misreported that Scott Kelly's DNA itself had changed
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