My name is Egle Cekanaviciute, and I study how being in space affects cells,
animals, and astronauts. I specifically like to study how space radiation affects the human brain.
This is a brain cell that is also called a neuron. Now, together these cells
and lots of other cells, supportive cells that are called glia, form the brain. So I grow
these kinds of cells in a dish and then expose them to space radiation. The simulated one,
the imitated one, on the ground and see what happens to them. That will help [us] understand
how radiation may affect astronauts' brains. It will also be important to people on Earth
because, in general, the effects of space flight and space radiation are similar to growing old.
One of my earliest memories that I have is of my dad showing me Mars and Venus in the winter sky,
which was back in Lithuania, which is where I grew up—and then watching shuttle launches on TV. I
fell in love with NASA and with space exploration very early on. I think it's very important to
make free time and do other things that are not just your work and not just science. So,
I write stories that are fantasy and science fiction, including sometimes about space.
Space just tends to creep into them somehow. I also read a lot of books. I've been reading
every single day, even if it's just a little bit, basically since I learned to read. In addition to,
you know, exploring space, I like exploring the Earth. So, I go hiking and running and biking.
I like traveling the world, and I enjoy learning languages. Just keep asking questions and finding
things out. Figure out which questions are the most exciting to you about the world,
and then go into science that helps answer them. And then you will never be bored. Keep persevering
and persisting through your failures because you are going to fail. You should be failing
because if you are not, that means you're doing something that is too easy for you.
I often tell people I will not get to live to see cities on Mars, but what I do now will be tiny,
tiny steps towards making them happen and will survive long after me. And it
is amazing that I get to think that way. It is amazing that I get to contribute to something
that is such a large scale and affects all of humanity and not just NASA and not just me.
you