Parenting is tough enough here on Earth. Imagine being the parent of a toddler confined to a modular Martian habitat on the dusty plains of Tharsis. With nary a “jungle gym” in sight, could human parents on Mars cope with the stress of raising kids in such an alien environment? “There’s been quite a lot of work on microgravity effects on fetal development and the news isn’t promising,” said Sheryl Bishop, professor and social psychologist at UTMB, who has been involved in researching extreme environments as space analogues for more than a quarter century. “We don’t know what the impact of partial gravity would be, but evidence from microgravity strongly argues against pregnancy and post natal development without significant problems and risk,” said Bishop. Bishop cautions that future humans on Mars shouldn’t attempt to procreate without first installing an infrastructure to handle all phases of the process — from conception to post-natal care.