Residents of Iranian City are ideal deep space astronaut candidates, NASA claims
C/NET: One of the biggest challenges in sending astronauts into deep space or setting up a base on Mars is dealing with the radiation from the cosmic rays that our sun and other stars send flying around the universe. For years, scientists have been studying residents of Ramsar, Iran's green northern tourist attraction City by the Caspian sea, believed to have the highest levels of naturally occurring background radiation for an inhabited area. Levels up to 80 times the world average (PDF) have been measured in town, yet studies of the few thousand people living in the area show rates of lung cancer are actually below average. In fact, research shows that a gene responsible for the production of white blood cells and so-called "natural killer cells" that attack tumors was more strongly expressed among the population.
Besides Ramsar, the beaches near Guarapari, Brazil, also exhibit very high levels of natural radiation so the area's residents' gene pool could provide for good candidates for deep space missions. Unfortunately, none of the natural candidates from Iran or Brazil would be eligible for the program NASA is now hiring for -- the agency is only looking for American applicants.
