[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 0 - 08:09:42 ]
Welcome to the Women of NASA forum with Emily Holton from Ames Research Center. You may submit your questions to our MODERATED chat queue. We will post a few questions in the chat room periodically.

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DONT'T WORRY if you don't see your questions appear on your screen immediately during moderation. You only need to submit your questions once to our chat queue.

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At the conclusion of this forum, please share your thoughts with us at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats. Thank you for joining us, and we look forward to hearing from you!

[ Tish/NASAChatHost - 3 - 07:17:40 ]
Thank you for joining our Forum. If you are new to the Forum format you may read through a brief overview at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/forums/overview.html. This Forum will last through Thursday, 12/9. You may post questions at any time over the course of the 3 days and check back to read your response from Dr.Holton.

[ EmilyHolton/ARC - 9 - 20:01:01 ]
RE: [Austin] What experiment are you working on now?
Hi Austin, Right now, I am primarily a manager planning new programs for NASA and participating in diverse discussion groups. I hope to get back into the lab in January and conduct research with a collaborator from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. The study will be looking at the response of various bones from adult male and female rats who do not bear weight on their hindlimbs similar to astronauts in space. The ultimate goal of this research is to learn in certain drug combinations might inhibit bone loss and, perhaps, even add bone in these "hindlimb unloaded" rats.

[ EmilyHolton/ARC - 10 - 20:04:08 ]
RE: [Chris] How long have you been doing this job? Do you like it or do you kind of like it?
Hi Chris, I joined NASA over 30 years ago. I had not intended to work for NASA as I was quite happy doing research in a medical school and teaching pharmacology. By a strange series of events, I found myself working for NASA. I have never regretted for a minute that fate brought me here. I have such an exciting career planning to the future of humankind. I travel all over the world talking about the unique changes that occur in humans, animals, and cells during changes in the gravity level.

[ EmilyHolton/ARC - 11 - 20:07:07 ]
RE: [Cody] How would a bird react in space?
Hi Cody, I actually have some video of quail aboard the MIR space station. Adult quail on MIR adapted quickly to the space environment. They soared, rather than flapped, their wings and held onto their perch for stability when eating (i.e., so that they weren't propelled backwards, as for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction). Fertilized quail eggs appeared to undergo normal embryogenesis in space, but serious problems occurred after hatching. When a cosmonaut took a hatchling from its habitat, the chick appeared content as long as it was held. But once released, the bird first flapped its wings for orientation and began to spin like a ballerina, then kicked its legs causing it to tumble--it became a spinning ball. The cosmonaut noted that the chick would fix its eyes on the cosmonaut while trying to orient in space. When placed in their habitat, the chicks had difficulty flying to their perch to eat, and, unlike the adults, had difficulty grasping the perch for stability when eating.

[ EmilyHolton/ARC - 12 - 20:12:05 ]
RE: [BurtonValleyElem] What types of new research and information do you have now on bone mass and changes from long duration space flight since your last chat? Do you think that humans will survive a flight to Mars and what types of information do you think we have to have before we can safely send a human on a long duration flight?
Hi students, I haven't had much change to work in the lab, but I've had a lot of fun putting together and presenting a paper on gravity's effects on living systems from cells through humans. I was fortunate to be invited to London to give this presentation. The presentation was given in the same room where Charles Darwin gave his first presentation on the origin of species. I have attended some NASA working groups grappling with the countermeasures program for bone loss in space. Some data suggest that we might be able to develop physiological countermeasures that will minimize or even stop the bone changes during flight. If this happens, then a trip to Mars will not be a problem for bone. Humans have already survived over a year in space, so the trip to Mars will probably not be all that difficult as the only time will minimal gravity will be the trip to and from the planets. At least on Mars, the crew will have about 1/3 the gravity level on Earth.

[ EmilyHolton/ARC - 13 - 20:14:16 ]
RE: [Tova] Hi Dr. Holton - Thank you for letting us ask you questions. I think your career is so exciting! Would you ever consider changing careers and if so what else would you do? Do you ever wish you pursued a career in the medical field?
Hi Tova, Yes, I have an incredibly exciting job. I thought of retiring a couple of years ago with the idea that I'd go back to school and take up jazz composition and play writing. My goal was to be to write a jazz comedy on research in NASA. However, my job became so interesting and challenging that I have given up the idea of retirement in the near future.

[ EmilyHolton/ARC - 19 - 09:43:06 ]
RE: [Elizabeth] We were reading your archived chat and have some more personal questions if you don'9t mind... Looking back now on raising your daughter and pursuing such a fulfilling career do you have any advise for us who also are trying to balance both career and raising children? You mentioned the need for constancy in a child'9s life. Are there things you would do differently or would recommend to us?
Hi Elizabeth, Hindsight is always 20-20. I've thought a lot about what I might do differently. Some of my recommendations would be to appreciate help/assistance from friends and family and let them know how much you appreciate and need that help. I would have spent more time studying together or spending time making sure that she developed good study habits. I would probably be a bit more of a disciplinarian. One of the biggest problems, from my perspective, was the lack of people of her age in our neighborhood and at the church that we attended. So, from an early age she primarily associated with older people. I now think that children need to associate with children to build appropriate social skills. when you child decides that they want a career that is totally different than what you would want for them, you need to accept their decision yet not necessarily agree with it. And though it all, you really need to let them know how much you love them.

[ EmilyHolton/ARC - 20 - 09:49:34 ]
RE: [KimberlyDYF] Hi Dr. Holton, Do you ever do any research for the medical field or is your research ever used for research on treatments of particular diseases?
Hi Kimberly, I received my Ph.D. in a bsic medical science and was trained that research was designed with humans in mind. When I joined NASA, I realized that research to understand basic mechanisms was every bit as important as focusing research on humans. Interestingly, important biological mutations or gene mutations are well-preserved across species. Understanding how a yeast responds to an environmental stress can shed light on how other species may respond. So, all research might ultimately have impact on humans. The challenge is not to ignore those important research papers in lower species as they may actually have as much, if not more, impact than those done specifically for humans. Most drugs used in humans are initially tested in animals. The rat model system that we developed for understanding how this species responds when its hindlimbs are unloaded, has lead to a better understanding of bone loss and muscle atrophy, and some of the drugs tested in this system are in clinical trials for humans.

[ EmilyHolton/ARC - 21 - 14:40:06 ]
RE: [DrMoore] Dr. Holton Do you think chiropractic and "non -traditional" work on bones, the skeletal system, etc. will ever be used to benefit astronauts? What types of work is being done in this area that you know of?
Hi Dr. Moore, My father was an osteopath and my brother is a chiropractor. My father had incredible skills in manipulation and I'm so sorry that osteopathic schools seem to have now minimized this skill. I also think that in the San Francisco Bay area, chiropractic school should reconsider the number of students being graduated per year as there are many starving chiropractors in this area. Manipulation is great and helpful to just about anyone, particularly those under stress. I don't think that manipulation will be helpful in retarding the bone loss or muscle atrophy as those changes are most likely related to the difference in the loading that the body experiences and require impact loading. I'm sure that crew members would probably welcome manipulation after a long, hard day.

[ EmilyHolton/ARC - 22 - 14:44:52 ]
RE: [Jeanne] Dr. Holton, My students will be doing a women in science project in February. Is there a way they could interview you via e-mail or regular mail?
Hi Jeanne, I'd be pleased to participate. I recommend email, telecon, or videocon. Regular mail tends to get relegated to the bottom of my "must do now" stack. Just let me know the dates and I'll make sure that I'm available.

[ EmilyHolton/ARC - 23 - 14:58:07 ]
RE: [Pam] We are four high school seniors considering a career in space or engineering. We wondered what the Ames Research Center was and why its the most exciting place in the world to work. Also, are there any colleges you would recommend for engineering or for getting involved with NASA?
Hi Pam, You ask some pretty tough questions. I'll answer the easiest first. Ames Research Center is located about 30 miles south of San Francisco, at the end of the bay. I spent most of my life east of the Mississippi and thought that how you liked the city in which you lived depended upon the people you met. I still think that is true, but I had no idea of the beauty and addictiveness of this area before I moved here. The Pacific Ocean and San Francisco are less than 30 minutes away. Yosemite or the desert is a 4 hr drive. You can get to great ski resorts in 3-4 hr (you can visit the snow if you miss it, but you don't have to live with it). The bay area seldom has more than 3 days of rain in a row and you have beautiful blue sky in between. Only a few of the trees are deciduous, so you have lots of green year round. There are many great hiking trails within a few minutes of about anywhere. We seldom have rain between April and November, so you can plan to do outside activities without fear of being rained out. Great museums, symphonies, opera, ballet, theatre, etc. Now, you take the bay area and couple that with a world class research center and that's about heaven on Earth. Ames was originally know for its research in aeronautics. Today, it has diversified. It's main research charters are Information Technology and Astrobiology. One of the most interesting aspects of Ames is the number of cross cultural and intradisciplinary teams that are put together to solve problems or create new areas of research. Right now I spend a lot of time in Astrobiology. Dreaming about the future and driving the research programs to get there is awesome. If you want to become associated with Ames, I'd recommend a college in the bay area. We have a number of student programs. The person to contact to learn about the programs is Patricia Powell. I'd also recommend the ARC home page as you can learn a lot about the center (http://www.arc.nasa.gov). Good luck with your careers. I'm always so pleased to hear that young women are considering careers in engineering or science.

[ EmilyHolton/ARC - 27 - 09:11:09 ]
RE: [Katie] I am a senior in high school, and pursuing a career in aerospace engineering. Are there any scholarships available to women in my position?
Hi Katie, There should be many scholarships available. I would recommend that you talk with your high school advisor and that you contact the colleges that you are interested in attending and request that they send you information on available scholarships. Many colleges and universities list available scholarships on their websites. Good luck.

[ EmilyHolton/ARC - 28 - 09:17:43 ]
RE: [Bruce] Has any research looked into the effects of zero-gravity on spinal conditions such as scoliosis, a curvature of the spine? If gravity contributes to it, do you think it possible that an adolescent with scoliosis might some century be sent to space to prevent curving of the spine?
Interestingly, spaceflight seems to cause back pain in more than 50% of the people who fly. This pain probably comes from the lack of gravity which usually causes compression of the spinal column. Without gravity's load, the disks expand as the vertebra separate and this change creates pain in many people. However, I did talk once with Harrison Schmidt, Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 17. He told me that he has chronic back pain and that the only time that he was pain-free was in space. So, as long as someone with back pain or scoliosis stays in space, the pain might be relieved. Yet, coming back to Earth will once again compress the vertebra and reestablish the curvature which will likely reinitiate the pain. So, I doubt that spaceflight will prevent curving of the spine for someone who will return to Earth, but it is an interesting idea.

[ EmilyHolton/ARC - 29 - 12:00:57 ]
RE: [Emily] I have heard that astronauts can not cry in space I would like to know would that effect their eye or would they use eye drops?
Wow, this is news to me. I had to contact some of my outside experts on this question. Turns out that probably only the astronauts know if they can cry in space. However, on some spacecraft the atmosphere is so dry that the certain crewmembers do experience dry eyes, and that crewmember may then use eyedrops. So, the cause is not changes in physiology, but the dry environment.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 30 - 17:02:00 ]
Thank you for your participation in our Women of NASA Forum with Emily Holton from NASA Ames Research Center. We would like offer our special thanks to Emily for her thoughtful responses to our questions during our forum. Thank you, Emily!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 31 - 17:02:24 ]
This concludes our Women of NASA chats and forums for this year. We will take a break for the upcoming holidays, but will return in January with more chats and forums with our experts. On behalf of Tish Krieg, manager of the Women of NASA project, have a wonderful holiday season.

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A final reminder to share your thoughts with us at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats.

[ Jeanne - 33 - 17:30:43 ]
Thank you Dr. Holton. Students will begin their projects on February 10 and finish on March 6. One student will be assigned you and will use e-mail to contact you. Thanks again.