Science!

I wish, actually just an avid hobbyist (my college degree is in philosophy, I only got interested in physics/cosmology after college)

3 of my favorite Youtube channels (PBS Space Time, Anton, and Sabine) btw, good stuff

Octopuses, squids and lobsters could become 'sentient beings' in the UK

So nothing we didn't already know? 

There's a key difference between sentience and sapience that those bureaucrats fail to grasp.

Dogs, Cats, Cows, ants, roaches, heck even bacteria are sentient.

Now if they are talking about sapience then that would a major declaration... if cephalopods actually were sapient. 


All in all this looks like desperate justification for a massive waste of tax payer dollars on frivolous studies.

Space Destroys Blood Cells And Causes Mitochondria Malfunction - Anton Petrov.

Although radiation from space is unhealthy, space itself (i.e. the lack of gravity) seems to be unhealthy too.

New paper claims octopuses (octopi?) are from space.

Some of y'all probably already knew that.

I was under the assumption that their family tree is well known. And, very, very, very old, going back hundreds of millions of years, to the Ammonites and before.

Differences between animals are due to how far away in the past the common ancestor is.

...maybe I should click on that link... - Nah, I won't.

Whole Universe May Be Vibrating From Gravitational Wave Background - Anton Petrov.

It appears that the space of the whole universe is vibrating constantly due to gravitational waves. Now that this has been detected, it requires an explanation.

sacrifice 
but yes and no

cosmic radiation causes cellular mutations unless they figure out the problems and manage to create energy shielding the dangers associated with prolonged lack of gravity will be minute in comparison and thats completely ignoring the whole cut off from the rest of the world and stuck in a small space... cabin fever will be the biggest killer

so the lack of funding is actually related to the above, nobody serious will attach themselves to funding a near certain catastrophe, the science is currently lacking the thing is if they fix the gravity problem then chances are the speed limitations and energy shielding will probably also be fixed... 

yes its all about gravimetric interfaces and inertial dampers, ironically sci-fi and space tech are pretty much in lock step here, whats even more amusing is there are a half dozen ways to overcome the problems without needing to wait for the science to provide the answer the problem is they all revolve around creating a giant (think several square kilometre internal space) shielded mobile habitat (basically a giant rock with engines which would be hollowed out lined and outfitted for a small towns worth of people including farmers and livestock)  such a thing wouldn't be possible to create on the surface which means either capturing an asteroid and using it or developing the means to put something together in space and cover it in at least 50 meters of concrete for the cosmic shielding.... 

well that or develop gravimetric drives and energy shielding... the funny thing is the gravimetric drives would actually produce enough shielding to deflect most of hte micrometeorites that the energy shielding would also deflect whilst they were active, they would also likely produce the necessary gravity to alleviate the long term health problems associated with lack of gravity... so then the single biggest things would be the lack of medical options on a long range mission (which nanites could overcome if they ever make them compatible with the human body) 

theses are the reasons for lack of investment which will necessitate the aforementioned sacrifice in the interests of improving humanity, which itself is driven by a lack of unity and divergent socio-political strata, basically before any such things can be brought to the fore, announced and used (some if not all of the technological requirements already exist and have done for a long time) we need a more unified world working towards set goals, right now if a manned mission to the belt or another planet were undertaken there would be massive upheaval, the "red states" (china russia etc) would either sabotage them or utilise subterfuge and compete and try to claim anything the nato states put together, add on the various closed religious groups (india pakistan and the various islamic nations to name but a few) would likely launch a religion based suicide attempt to claim or destroy any such things (not because the folks in charge believe that crap but becasue they know the filth will do what their told and its a power move, give it to me or nobody can have it...) 

so to summarise a few not so keen minds will be allowed to sacrifice for the greater good whilst nations sit on their hands and laud them as great beings all the while sitting in the wings with moves in the dark... as a consequence the vast majority have no interest in becoming someone else's pawn becasue they are smart enough to have read some history and the military folks who would do it for shits n giggles wont be permitted to take part (thanks to international agreements) leaving a handful of corporate groups who can chuck together a cutprice effort as the only viable competitors (which nobody wants to get the green light since its already clear they will cut corners operate via a shell company and then collapse to save face in the event it goes wrong or hoard everything for their own ends if it works out) 

so the biggest question is what problem would you fix to make it work, a single nation attempting to undertake such a mission would likely find their launch taken out by missile strike if it wasn't sabotaged successfully before that becasue no nation is going to be willing to let another "win the race to space" 

stupid but true, the only reason the LHC was even allowed to happen was they built it in a known neutral state and allowed international participation and oversight....

It doesn't work like that. If you had read wiki article it explains that this bacteria survives high radiation doses not by shielding itself from radiation but by rapidly repairing any damage to its DNA. In other words it doesn't tank damage like Superman but rather regenerates rapidly like Deadpool. So some radiation would hit some molecules of bacteria and be stopped by it the rest will fly through it and hit whatever is behind it. To stop radiation from hitting you you must put as much distance and matter between you and its source as possible, the denser this matter the better. A meter thick wall made out of  lead or even simple concrete would be much more effective barrier than a vessel of comparable size filled with this bacteria.

Gravity is solved by splitting a ship into two, connected by a cable, and spinning them around each other.
We are on the verge of magnet technology that will let us create a protective magnet field around a planet, like Mars. I'm not sure that it'll protect as well, when scaled down to protect a ship. The volume of the magnet field may be too small. I don't know.
The rest, we need a safe space protected by a lead shield, just like skekSil says. Certainly also doable.