Have you ever wondered what it would take for humans to travel beyond the comforts of our home planet, Earth? You are invited to join us in Space Medicine - an online experience facilitated by two recent Duke graduates in which you will learn about and engage in the most pressing medical challenges facing NASA and others advancing the future of space exploration.
Offered By
Space Medicine
Duke UniversityAbout this Course
What you will learn
Examine the mechanisms that allow certain organisms to overcome impossible odds to survive in a difficult environment.
Analyze the ways in which Oxygen, pressure, acceleration and other sustained threats impact the human body in extreme environments.
Explore mechanical, biomedical, and electrical engineering problems involved in space travel and potential solutions.
Skills you will gain
- Biology
- Engineering
- Physics
- Medicine
- Health Care
Offered by
Duke University
Duke University has about 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students and a world-class faculty helping to expand the frontiers of knowledge. The university has a strong commitment to applying knowledge in service to society, both near its North Carolina campus and around the world.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
History of Medicine and Aviation
The field of space medicine arose from aerospace medicine in the mid 20th century. Owing the heritages of space and medicine, we will want to look back in history to find how these two disciplines came together. Along the way we will talk about case studies, which punctuate each week of the course, look at the role of flight medicine, before turning to the environment of space. Space is an inhospitable place, but venturing beyond Earth is not hopeless. Already some organisms have overcome problems posed by lack of air, freezing temperatures, and radiation. Space medicine is all about meeting these challenges and preventing problems before they occur in our final frontier.
Out of Thin Air
A commonly understood fact is that breathing is difficult at high elevations because of the thin air. However, the meanings behind “hard to breathe” and “thin air” are often hidden or under-appreciated. Informed by a hot balloon incident from the 1800s, we will ask why oxygen is so important for the human body and appreciate how our hearts, lungs, and blood is essential for sustaining life. Then we will look at what happens when these processes break down including medical signs and symptoms to answer what happened hundreds of years ago. Finally, we will look at countermeasures and ways that humans overcome the threat of hypoxia in aerospace and space travel.
The Price of Leaving
Scuba divers know that the end of the dive can be the most dangerous because bubbles can form causing terrible damage. Decompression Sickness was first understood in French coal miners but plays a crucial role in aerospace applications. The space environment involves moving between pressure gradients which brings these risks front and center. The other concern with different pressure gradients is hyperoxia where too much oxygen can also cause trouble. The artificial atmospheres onboard the International Space Station and in space suits must be tightly controlled to avoid these issues.
Extremes of Acceleration
Aircraft causalities almost always end with a crash. Crashes are a form of acceleration where a moving plane comes to a rapid stop causing massive trauma for the pilot and passenger. Acceleration from high speed turns, maneuvers, and lift-off can contribute to pilots passing out and losing control of their craft. We fight against these G-Forces with blood pressure in the hopes of avoiding these Losses of Consciousness and Trauma.
Reviews
- 5 stars82.60%
- 4 stars14.49%
- 3 stars2.89%
TOP REVIEWS FROM SPACE MEDICINE
Very helpful and in depth introduction to Space Medicine and areas of it that are relevant to know about when considering this as a career choice. Thank you for making this available for everyone.
A really fantastic introduction to what every astronaut and scientist must know as we start to move off-Earth.
Learned a lot of cool information and it was easy to follow and understand! Would recommend this course to anyone interested in space!
I would like to know how can we get Certificate of completion? Thank you
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