The difference comes down to an individual's resilience after exposure to radiation. In space, astronauts who leave their space vehicles for space walks or other work are exposed to radiation from the sun's subatomic particles, solar flares, cosmic rays, etc. Even landing on the moon is a risk, since it doesn't have the kind of planet-wide magnetic field that protects us on Earth. (Mars, too, is a higher radiation environment than back home.)

If the findings translate to humans, scientists believe they might be able to identify a biological marker that would help determine how an individual astronaut's brain might respond to a deep-space mission before she rockets into the stars.

The idea would be to help at-risk astronauts better protect themselves in space, says Catherine Davis, the study's lead author. “As with other areas of personalized medicine, we would seek to create individual treatment and prevention plans for astronauts we believe would be more susceptible to cognitive deficits from radiation exposure,” she said in a statement. That might mean wearing an additional radiation shield, or limiting the duration of space walks.

Scientists say the astronauts who are in space right now are less at-risk for the brain deficits revealed in the study because the International Space Station is close enough to the Earth's magnetic field that they're somewhat protected.

But identifying what makes someone more likely to be adversely affected by radiation exposure in space could help non-astronauts, too. People on Earth are routinely exposed to radiation—in some work environments and for some medical treatments, for instance—and understanding how radiation might affect someone before they’re exposed could help mitigate the associated risks.

Elsewhere, scientists are already exploring how deep-space missions can affect other parts of the body and whether trips to space may increase cancer risks.

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