Microgravity -- Roll for Bodily Issues?

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Celti

Have we tested how hibernating bears deteriorate in microgravity? Regardless, hibernating bears aren't in cryogenic hibernation and do deteriorate over their winter, accumulating toxins and losing substantial fat and energy reserves — and they're animals that evolved for such a state, with significant abilities for recycling and metabolic control. We haven't been able to reliably duplicate such a state in even pigs for more than a few hours without damage to the brain or other organs.

Bears don't hibernate, although they do become dormant. Some species of fish and frogs do undergo cryogenic hibernation, although obviously not in zero G.

Bears are relevant because their period of dormancy is a long period of almost complete physical inactivity, meaning that they aren't even going through the mild musculo-skeletal exercises against gravity that a minimally-mobile person does. This makes them one of the closer analogues to zero-G degeneration (in an active person in Zero-G, not a dormant/hibernating/frozen one). Another analogue is a completely bed-bound human, but pretty much all our examples of those are also sick people, and have to deal with pressure sores (which bears don't get when dormant).

A bed-bound person who is completely flat is also one of the closer analogues you can get in a 1-G environment of the effects of zero G on the distribution of bodily fluids - you don't get blood pulled into the feet or head preferentially. The effect isn't as drastic as it is in 0G, but circulatory problems caused by the lack of muscular pumping by the big leg muscles and the lack of gravity resisting blood elevation does mean the whole system goes wibbly wobbly.

[Flyndaran]

The definition of hibernation is under debate and one group would include non-polar bears despite not drastically lowering metabolic rate far under normal sleep. (In deep sleep, humans drop to 90% of resting fully awake metabolic rates.)
Many species don't urinate when "hibernating" as they recycle the urea back into proteins conserving loads of water.
The differences really only matter for spaceship resources as they'd still need to recoup fat loss and use oxygen while under.
I'm not sure full cryptobiosis is viable for any large animal let alone endothermic mammals without first MASSIVE genetic alterations.
But, in a setting with hyperspace, it's all a matter of which aspects of reality you wish to nod at to get the feel you want.

I'd think it would be interesting if cold sleep was considered a way to literally sleep away the pounds. Optimal weight individuals would have to "fat-load" for a week or two prior. Every space station would need greasy spoons... for everyone's safety. Double lol.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

One tiny fix for a boat ton of unrelated medical problems really shoves everything under the rug. I don't consider it realistic or anything more than a slight nod to reality. But OP did mention hyperspace, so...

(Unrelated as in microgravity effects the skeletal, endocrine, circulatory, occular, olfaction, intestinal symbiotes, etc. systems)

THS is a 'space advocates are right' future, not a rigorous extrapolation. The physiology of space travel, as we understand it in 2016, makes it hard to have many people in space having interesting adventures which people with a high-school education can understand while waiting for the pizza guy and making Monty Python jokes. And attempts to extrapolate a distant future from the latest research tend to look quaint after a few years too.

[Flyndaran]

I'm not sure what you mean here. How future people may or may not handle environmental dangers isn't the same as saying that they don't exist or have some magic bullet fix we're just to primitive to understand.
But THS is only hard science when compared to other space RPGs, so such shoving under the rug is perfectly in genre. Just as it might be for OP's hyperspace having setting.

[(E)]

Neal Stephenson's Seven eves has a Bolo idea with 2 smaller ships rotating on the either end of a cable, they might have even been as small as SM 4.

[Humabout]

It is worth noting that GURPS point costs have nothing to do with realism so much as making attempt at balancing character capability across a wide variety of situations. One point for a perk is kind of normal, and Immunity (one extremely specific syndrome) is a perk. Is it realistic? Maybe, maybe not. Is it available for purchase? Up to the GM. Regardless, it is still one character point worth of utility. Mechanically, it is an easy fix. In setting fluff, it might not be an option. Making that distinction is important for any GM creating and statting a setting.

As for hibernation, until I see experiments run on bears hobernating while either neutrally boyant on earth or while in microgravity, I don't particularly care about their degeneration or the intricasies of what constitutes hibernation in the context of this discussion. I would be interested to know if anyone has read any papers using data collected from astronauts or animals studied in space, though. I don't really have time this week to dig up any primary research to share, but if this is still alive next week, I'll see what I can find.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I'm not sure what you mean here. How future people may or may not handle environmental dangers isn't the same as saying that they don't exist or have some magic bullet fix we're just to primitive to understand.
But THS is only hard science when compared to other space RPGs, so such shoving under the rug is perfectly in genre. Just as it might be for OP's hyperspace having setting.

You sounded like you were offended that THS handwaves the health impacts of long-term life in microgravity or free fall (although there may be detailed rules in the supplements for space-based campaigns ... I just read the core book). I say that this was a pretty reasonable choice given the goals of the setting (its not exactly a setting centred on humans-as-we-know-them!), and that an attempt to rigorously extrapolate based on late 90s/early oughties popular science would probably both spoil the premise of the setting and look quaint to experts in space physiology today. Again, I would check the specialist books on space campaigns in THS to see if they go into more detail.

Tallor is interested in the details, but I can't help him there because I am not a physiologist and have not been following pop science things on space.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

You sounded like you were offended that THS handwaves the health impacts of long-term life in microgravity or free fall (although there may be detailed rules in the supplements for space-based campaigns ... I just read the core book). ...

I've been getting minor but recurring headaches. I didn't mean to sound offended. I just meant to point out how it's unrealistic but in genre for the impossibly optimistic transhumanism of THS. But that that may also be in genre for OP's setting.