Often thought as the best way to keep radiation from "soaking the bones," it looks as if portable magnetic fields may not only help keep us radiation free, but sane as well.
(RIA Novosti) The scientists constructed a special unit where the terrestrial magnetic field was reduced to a little as one-thousandth of its usual strength. Twelve rats were put into the "magnet-free chamber" for 25 days, and then for another 10 days, while another 12 rats remained in normal conditions.Even though humans may be able to "train themselves" to deal with lower levels of magnetism (or none at all), our animal friends may be unable to cope with the loss (not to mention the insanity).
Both groups were monitored 24 hours a day. Krivova said the first thing researchers observed was increased aggression among rats living under the reduced magnetic field. [...]
The rats were also observed to have memory failures. The group experiencing a small magnetic field forgot their surroundings and began inspecting the already known environment once again.
Unless our species can find some way of creating global magnetic fields, our options of conquering the solar system en masse will be severely limited towards Mercury and Ganymede (not to mention a few "safe" regions of both Mars and the Moon).
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