Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site decwrl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-pen!kallis From: kallis@pen.DEC Newsgroups: net.space Subject: Re: Space WhoopeeMessage-ID: <3110@decwrl.UUCP> Date: Mon, 15-Jul-85 10:01:28 EDT Article-I.D.: decwrl.3110 Posted: Mon Jul 15 10:01:28 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 17-Jul-85 06:24:07 EDT Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP Organization: DEC Engineering Network Lines: 19 The question of whether a woman or other mammal could conceive in "zero g" is easily answered without having to make a "Rabbit Test": 1) Most human activities have been tested in negative gravity (e.g., you can eat and swallow upside down; drinking water upside down has been a folk remedy for curing hiccups for more than a century). 2) Spermatozoa swim to their target. 3) Fetrilized eggs attach to the uterus without help from gravity. 4) The developing zygote/embryo/fetus is in a sac of amniotic fluid that effectively puts it in as "weightless" an environment as astronauts-in-training do when skindiving. The chemical exchange across the placental link is not dependent upon gravity. It's possible that there might be complications, but I rather suspect not. Don't forget that humans come from a billions-year-old evolutionary chain that goes back to "weightless" sea life, and there are a lot of safeguards buolt in. Steve Kallis, Jr.