NASA presented some preliminary findings from their Twins Study earlier this year. A complete paper from this study is to be released later this year. For those who are not familiar with this study, this is the first and only study done on twin astronauts comparing the one who spent 340 days in space (Scott Kelly) with his brother (Mark Kelly) who spent the same time on earth, to try to understand genetic changes due to long term space travel. The twins had identical genes when the experiment started. They found that the person who had lived in space went through some genetic mutations during his time in space, and that some changes in gene expression (which apparently is not the same as genetic changes) seem to be long lasting.
Our living environment deeply impacts what we are as a species inhabiting the Universe. We are shaped by where we exist in the universe, and there is some kind of a process that causes us to develop in a certain manner in different environments. Scott Kelly spent less than a year in Space before the changes in his body manifested themselves. Consider the near certainty that the magnitude of the differences caused in species because of where we exist in the universe likely outweighs our differences due to our existences in different places and in different circumstances on this earth itself. Why then are we bent on focusing on and exploiting our own relatively minor differences? And do we really think we are the superior species?
Splattered Brains 