Texto associado. Text CB1A2
Spending time in space and having an unrivalled view of planet Earth is an experience many of us dream of, but the human body evolved to function in the gravity of Earth. So fully recovering from spending time in the weightlessness of space can take years.
“It’s a fact that space is by far the most extreme environment that humans have ever encountered and we’ve just not evolved to handle the extreme conditions,” Professor Damian Bailey, who studies human physiology, says. To begin with, the heart and blood vessels have an easier time as they no longer have to pump blood against gravity — and they start to weaken. And the bones become weaker and more brittle. There should be a balance between the cells breaking down old bone and those making new, but that balance is disrupted without the feedback and resistance of working against gravity. “Every month, about 1% of bones and muscles are going to wither away — it’s accelerated ageing,” Professor Bailey says.
Microgravity also distorts the vestibular system, which is how you balance and sense which way is up. In space, there is no up, down or sideways. It can be disorientating when you go up — and again when you return to Earth.
James Gallagher. What nine months in space does to the human body.
Internet: <bbc.com> (adapted).
About the vocabulary used in the second paragraph of
text CB1A2, it is correct to affirm that “brittle” (third sentence)
and ‘wither away’ (last sentence)
✂️ a) are used to describe physical conditions limited to people
who travel into space. ✂️ b) can be understood as expressions used to describe the
‘accelerated ageing’ mentioned by Professor Bailey. ✂️ c) are verbs used to describe what happens to human muscles
when in space. ✂️ d) can be respectively and correctly replaced with flexible and
wear out. ✂️ e) are used as synonyms, as both express how the human body
behaves in space.