Solar Events and Space Weather May Trigger Birth Defects on Earth

Could solar effects trigger birth defects on Earth? Scientists have taken a closer look at radiation from cosmic rays to see whether or not it could impact unborn children.

Scientists have long known that airplane crews at high altitude are exposed to potentially harmful levels of radiation from cosmic rays. In this case, though, the researchers wanted to see whether these cosmic rays could pose hazards even at sea level. In recent years, research has suggested congenital birth defects on Earth's surface could be caused by these "solar particle events," which are spikes in cosmic rays from the sun that touch off the northern lights.

"We looked at two different studies," said Adrian Melott, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Both of them indicated a connection between cosmic rays and the rate of birth defects. One also associated mutations in cells growing in a petri dish with a 1989 solar particle event."

With that said, estimates that the scientists made showed that the dose of radiation from a solar particle event would be less than a visit to the doctor might necessitate. Even so, it seemed as if experimental evidence indicated otherwise by suggesting something was going on that caused birth defects.

The researchers looked carefully at two forms of radiation caused by solar particle events: muons and neutrons. They found that muons are the most dangerous to biology at the Earth's surface.

"Muons are a kind of heavy cousin of the electron," said Melott. "They're produced in great abundance by cosmic rays and are responsible for most of the radiation we get on the ground from cosmic rays and are responsible for most of the radiation we get on the ground from cosmic rays. Neutrons can do a lot of damage. However, very few of them ever reach the ground. We checked this because some of them do reach the ground. We found that they're likely responsible for a lot less damage than muons, even during a solar particle event."

The findings reveal that muons may be to blame when it comes to birth defects. This is especially important to note when it comes to calculating the effects of space weather.

The findings are published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

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