article review: “Danger! This Mission to Mars Could Bore You to Death!” by Maggie Koerth-Baker

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“Danger! This Mission to Mars Could Bore You to Death!” begins with author Koerth-Baker describing an experiment in simulated life-on-Mars on the slopes of Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano. It’s part of preparation for a journey that will include many dangers, not the least of which is boredom. Using current technology, it will take more than eight months each way. That’s a lot of “Are we there yet?” The danger of boredom is that the mind wanders, looking for something to amuse itself. It is, Koerth-Baker writes, a form of stress. What if, millions of miles from home, a chronically bored astronaut forgets a certain safety procedure? What if he gets befuddled while reading an oxygen gauge? More important… bored people are also prone to taking risks, subconsciously seeking out stimulation when their environment bores them. (p. 133) The author looks to analogues in insolated Antarctica. People conducting scientific research there, for example, also face boredom. Some ways they’ve dealt with monotony were as simple as putting on skits. There has to be a break in the routine. Another place she sees it is captive behavior in zoo animals. This is, happily, largely a thing of the past as zoos have become more aware that animals need a stimulating environment. This was an incredibly short piece but dealt with an important issue not only for space flight but for everyday life, which she doesn’t follow-up on. Bored bus drivers? Bored employees at the DMV? Bored clerks at the check-out counter? Koerth-Baker’s writing is clear and crisp. According the author’s blurb at end of her article, author Maggie Koerth-Baker is science editor at BoingBoing.net and author of Before the Lights Go Out, which deals with the future of energy production and consumption. The article is available at the link below. _____ Title: “Danger! This Mission to Mars Could Bore You to Death!” Published in: The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2014 First Published: New York Times Sunday Magazine July 16, 2013 Author: Maggie Koerth-Baker (b. 1981) _____ *An earlier version of this review appeared on another site. It has been updated and expanded for it inclusion in myLot*