Space Brain: The Risk of Traveling to Mars

Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) finds himself stranded and alone on Mars, in "The Martian."

The president's Mars by 2030 promise. Elon Musk's Mars vision. New research from UC Irvine says there are risks to traveling to the Red Planet.

Mars by 2030.

That's the promise made today by President Obama in an op-ed published by CNN.

Just two weeks ago, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, unveiled his grand vision to build a civilization on the Red Planet.

With all this talk of space colonization, one might wonder: "Is all this risky for earthlings?"

Turns out the radiation that people will experience on a trip to Mars is one of NASA's biggest worries.

Deep space is full of cosmic rays that could have very harmful effects on the human brain. That's according to research published in the science journal NATURE.

Dr. Charles Limoli, a Professor of Oncology at the University of California, Irvine lead the research effort and joined Take Two with more.

To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.