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>> BIOLOGY WAS ALWAYS
MY FAVORITE SUBJECT GROWING UP.
I'M NOT SURE EXACTLY WHY.
MAYBE IT WAS JUST BECAUSE OF
THIS INHERENT CONNECTION
AND INTEREST IN NATURE.
MAYBE THAT CAME FROM MY MOM.
MAYBE THAT CAME FROM WHERE
I GREW UP, BUT I JUST ALWAYS
LOVED BIOLOGY CLASS.
I WENT TO THE ANTARCTIC
FIVE TIMES.
FOUR TIMES WAS FOR
MY PHD RESEARCH.
I WAS WORKING AT THE SCRIPPS
INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY,
WHICH IS PART OF U.C. SAN DIEGO.
WE WERE LOOKING AT
THE DIVING PHYSIOLOGY OF ANIMALS
IN GENERAL.
AND THE WORK THAT
WE WERE PURSUING THEN
IN THE ANTARCTIC
WAS LOOKING AT THE DIVING
PHYSIOLOGY OF EMPEROR PENGUINS.
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HOW THEY COULD SUPPORT THIS
EXTRAORDINARY BEHAVIOR--
DIVING DEEPER THAN 500 METERS
AND FOR LONGER THAN
HALF AN HOUR ON A SINGLE BREATH.
WE PUT PHYSIOLOGICAL DATA
RECORDERS ON THE ANIMALS.
I WAS EVEN FORTUNATE ENOUGH
TO DIVE WHERE WE WERE DOING
OUR RESEARCH WITH PENGUINS.
SO EMPEROR PENGUINS
WHIZZING AROUND YOU,
YOU CAN IMAGINE WHAT AN
EXTRAORDINARY FEELING THAT IS.
AND IT WAS JUST COMPLETELY
EYE-OPENING.
AND WE DID MEASURE
HEART RATES AS LOW AS
THREE BEATS PER MINUTE
AND DOWN AROUND
FIVE TO SIX BEATS PER MINUTE
FOR A WHOLE FIVE MINUTE PERIOD.
SO THAT'S REALLY EXTRAORDINARY
IF YOU THINK ABOUT
COMPARING THAT TO
AN EXERCISING HUMAN
OR ANY ANIMAL EXERCISING
ON THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH
WHERE YOU KNOW YOU HAVE
THIS CHARACTERISTIC
EXERCISE RESPONSE.
YOUR HEART RATE INCREASES
TO GET MORE OXYGEN
AND BLOOD FLOW TO ALL OF
THE EXERCISING TISSUES
AND MUSCLES.
SO THESE ANIMALS
ARE DOWN THERE.
THEY'RE ALSO EXERCISING.
THEY'RE SWIMMING AROUND,
THEY'RE CATCHING FISH,
THEY'RE FORAGING.
AND THEY'RE DOING THAT
WHILE LOWERING THEIR HEART RATE.
SO IT'S THIS REALLY UNIQUE
DIVE RESPONSE.
SO FOR MY POST-DOCTORAL
RESEARCH PROJECT, I KIND OF
WENT TO A DIFFERENT EXTREME.
I BECAME VERY INTERESTED
IN THE BAR-HEADED GOOSE,
WHICH IS THE SPECIES OF GOOSE
THAT MIGRATES TWICE A YEAR
OVER THE TALLEST MOUNTAINS
ON THE PLANET.
SO OVER THE HIMALAYAS.
YOU KNOW, IF SOMEBODY IS
THINKING ABOUT CLIMBING EVEREST,
THEN THEY GO WEEKS IN ADVANCE,
THEY GO TO BASE CAMP,
THEY ALLOW THEMSELVES
TO ACCLIMATE THEIR
PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESSES
CATCH UP A LITTLE BIT--
GET SOME MORE
RED BLOOD CELLS ONBOARD.
THESE BIRDS ARE DOING THAT
CROSSING FROM--
IN SEVEN TO EIGHT HOURS.
THEY NEED FAR MORE OXYGEN
IN ORDER TO SUPPORT THEMSELVES
WHILE THEY'RE FLYING
THAN THEY WOULD IF THEY WERE
WALKING OR DOWN HERE AT
SEA LEVEL-- BUT THEY'RE
DOING THAT IN AN ENVIRONMENT
THAT HAS AN OXYGEN LIMITATION.
SO HOW ARE THEY DOING THAT?
WE DECIDED TO TRY AND LOOK
AT THIS PROBLEM BY TRAINING
BAR-HEADED GEESE TO FLY
IN A WIND TUNNEL.
AND IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE
THAT THE BIRDS WOULD BE
COMFORTABLE WITH ME AND MY TEAM,
WE IMPRINTED THE ANIMALS.
IT'S PARTICULARLY STRONG
IN WATER FOWL.
SO THE FIRST THING
THAT A DUCK OR A GOOSE SEES
AFTER THEY HATCH, THEY LOOK AT
AS THEIR PARENTAL FIGURE
AND THEY IMPRINT.
SO I GOT SOME EGGS AND I HAD
THE BIRDS IMPRINT ON ME.
SO I WAS THERE FROM THE TIME
THAT THEY HATCHED, YOU KNOW,
THEY WOULD BE HATCHING
IN MY HANDS, COMING OUT OF
THE EGG AND I WAS
THE FIRST THING THEY SAW.
SO THEY THOUGHT THAT I WAS
THEIR MOM AND I WAS
A MODERN DAY MOTHER GOOSE.
I HAD 12 GOSLINGS
THAT WERE FOLLOWING ME AROUND
EVERYWHERE I WENT.
THEY LOOK TO YOU FOR EVERYTHING.
YOU'RE GOING ON WALKS,
YOU'RE CUDDLING WITH THEM,
TAKING NAPS.
IT WAS REALLY AN
EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE
TO HAVE THAT CONNECTION
WITH AN ANIMAL.
AND THEY GROW QUITE QUICKLY.
WITHIN A FEW MONTHS,
THEY HAD FULLY GROWN WINGS.
AND SO WE BROUGHT THE BIRDS
BACK TO THE UNIVERSITY
OF BRITISH COLUMBIA,
AND STARTED TRAINING THEM
TO FLY IN THE WIND TUNNEL.
AND WE OUTFITTED THEM
WITH PHYSIOLOGICAL RECORDERS.
LITTLE BACKPACK RECORDERS
TO MEASURE HEART RATE
AND THEN AGAIN OXYGEN LEVEL.
AND THEN THEY ALSO
WERE OUTFITTED WITH A MASK.
SO, A REALLY LIGHTWEIGHT MASK
THAT WE MADE OUT OF
A DENTAL MOLD MATERIAL.
AND THAT ALLOWED US
TO COLLECT THE AIR
THAT THEY EXHALED
AND THEN THROUGH THAT MASK
WE COULD ALSO CHANGE
THE AMOUNT OF OXYGEN
THAT THEY WERE BREATHING IN.
SO THERE WAS A TUBE WHERE
WE WOULD FLOW NITROGEN INTO
THE MASK AND BASICALLY DECREASE
THE OVERALL OXYGEN LEVELS,
SO THAT WE COULD
SIMULATE ALTITUDE.
SO WE WERE FLYING THESE BIRDS
AT ABOUT HALF TO A THIRD
OF THE AMOUNT OF OXYGEN
THAT WE HAVE AT SEA LEVEL.
A THIRD OF THE AMOUNT
OF OXYGEN IS EQUIVALENT
TO HIGHER THAN THE SUMMIT
OF MOUNT EVEREST.
SO HIGHER THAN
THAT TALLEST PEAK.
AND INTERESTINGLY,
AS WE PREDICTED,
THE BIRDS COULD STILL FLY.
AND IT REALLY ISN'T
JUST ONE ADAPTATION.
THERE IS REALLY A HOST
OF ADAPTATIONS ALL THE WAY
THROUGH WHAT WE CALL
THE OXYGEN TRANSPORT CASCADE.
SO, EVERYTHING FROM
GETTING THE OXYGEN FROM THE AIR,
INTO THEIR LUNGS.
GETTING IT INTO THEIR BLOOD,
GETTING IT DOWN TO
THE INDIVIDUAL CELLS
AND INTO THE MITOCHONDRIA,
WHICH ARE THE POWERHOUSES
OF THE CELLS.
SO THEY REALLY HAVE ADAPTATIONS
AT EVERY STEP OF THE WAY.
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SO BEFORE I WAS AN ASTRONAUT
AND ACTUALLY EVEN BEFORE
I WENT TO GRADUATE SCHOOL,
I WORKED HERE AT THE JOHNSON
SPACE CENTER FOR THREE YEARS
FOR THE HUMAN RESEARCH FACILITY.
SO OUR GROUP,
WE WERE COORDINATING ALL OF
THE LIFE SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS
THAT WERE CONDUCTED BACK THEN
ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE, AND THEN
ALSO ON THE SPACE STATION.
AND I FIND THAT A REALLY
INTERESTING CONNECTION NOW
BECAUSE FIRST I WAS
COORDINATING THAT KIND OF
SCIENCE ON OTHER ASTRONAUTS.
SECONDLY, I WAS DOING
ALL THESE EXPERIMENTS ON
ALL THESE DIFFERENT ANIMALS.
USING THE ANIMALS AS
THE SUBJECTS,
AND I WAS THE EXPERIMENTER.
AND FINALLY
IT'S COME FULL CIRCLE,
WHERE I WILL BE THE ONE
THAT'S EXPERIMENTED UPON.
AND THESE TYPES OF EXPERIMENTS,
THESE PHYSIOLOGICAL
AND MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS
ARE REALLY IMPORTANT FOR US
IN TERMS OF UNDERSTANDING
ALL OF THE EFFECTS
OF MICROGRAVITY
AND THE SPACEFLIGHT ENVIRONMENT
ON THE HUMAN BODY.
AND THIS WILL BE EVEN MORE
IMPORTANT AS WE BEGIN
TO UNDERTAKE LONGER MISSIONS
WHEN WE GO BACK TO THE MOON
AND EVENTUALLY GO TO MARS.
YOU KNOW, WITH ARTEMIS PROGRAM,
WE ARE PLANNING
THOSE MISSIONS NOW.
AND IT WILL BE EVEN MORE
IMPORTANT FOR US TO MAKE SURE
THAT WE CAN DELIVER ASTRONAUTS
EFFECTIVELY
AND THEY'RE ABLE TO FUNCTION
AT THEIR DESTINATIONS.
AND TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN
GET THEM HOME SAFELY AS WELL.
SO BY UNDERSTANDING
ALL THESE PROCESSES WITH
THE DECADES OF RESEARCH
WE HAVE NOW ON THE
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION,
WE CAN CONQUER AND APPLY THAT
TOWARD THESE FUTURE FLIGHTS.
I'M JESSICA MEIR.
I'M A SCIENTIST
AND A NASA ASTRONAUT.
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