Dr Elisa Ferre gave a lecture during the ESA/ELGRA gravity-related research summer school 2018, which focuses on the current research under microgravity and hypergravity conditions in Life and Physical sciences.
Human spaceflight has gained traction over the past decades: manned missions to the Moon or Mars are no longer a far distant future. However, astronauts embarking on a 6-month journey to Mars will be exposed to microgravity for such a long period of time, which might cause alterations in several physiological systems and potentially places lives at risk.
Elisa discussed the physiological, morphological and functional changes that occur to the human brain during microgravity exposure. She focuses on her research on how vestibular-gravitational alterations impact behaviour providing a psychophysical and neurocognitive account for the effects of microgravity on cognition.
Read more about Dr Ferre's research here.