There’s A Story In There Somewhere…Space (Eye)Balls

Stuck for a story idea? Let me help! I’ll periodically post a random tidbit that struck me as odd and offer it up to you as the potential seed for a story.

Use it as a starting point for your #FridayFlash. Take an idea from it, twist it and tweak it into something all your own. Share your idea with the rest of us – I’d love to see how many different incarnations everyone can come up with. I may just try my hand at it myself…

What do you say?

Today’s tidbit: This article I read about astronauts returning to earth after long space missions with their vision altered.

“In the past few years, about half of the astronauts aboard the international space station have developed an increasing pressure inside their heads, an intracranial pressure that reshapes their optic nerve, causing a significant shift in the eyesight of male astronauts. Doctors call it papilledema.”

It’s no secret that potential astronauts must go through rigorous testing before and after they travel to space. But apparently after spending a year in space, the nearsighted astronaut no longer needed his glasses to see afar. The bad news? He now needed specs to see up close. Apparently space travel does something to the optic nerve – but only to males. So far, no female astronauts have complained of this affliction.

Obviously, I don’t want to make light of this topic – but I think it also makes a good seed for a sci-fi/horror story. What do you think? Is there a seed of a story in there that you can build upon?

What other effects would you have your characters experience? Where would you take the story, given these bizarre circumstances?

Challenge extended.