Astronaut Alan Shepard standing next to a large boulder covered and surrounded by fine-grained lunar regolith (Apollo 14). Image Credit: NASA

The lunar surface is covered by regolith that contains microscopically small, angular, and abrasive dust particles. A new study on simulants, carried out by Rachel Caston and colleagues at Stony Brook University, suggests that over longer periods of time lunar dust may pose a toxic health risk to human lungs and brain cells when inhaled. READ MORE »