Weeks spent in bed will provide data on effects of long-term weightlessness

Morag's dreams have taken on a familiar if frustrating theme in recent weeks. She has visions of lying in bed, stirring, and then doing something forbidden in her real life: she gets up and walks around.

The theme is unsurprising: Morag has not been allowed to leave her bed for the past month. If all goes well, she will stay in bed for another month. Rather than being struck down by some debilitating illness, Morag is in peak physical and psychological condition. She is in bed because she answered an advert from the European Space Agency to take part in an unusual experiment which is set to change the future of human space flight.

The study, which is being run with help from Nasa and equivalent space agencies in France and Canada, was dreamt up to fill a gaping hole in our understanding of the effects of human spacefaring. "So far, the vast majority of space flight has been by men, so there is a real lack of data on women," said Peter Jost, life sciences medical director at the European Space Agency and leader of the Women International Space Simulation for Exploration (Wise) study.

"In future, more women will be going into space and the missions will be longer. We need to find out if it affects men and women differently. We need the information to protect the health of our astronauts."

With no realistic chance of sending large groups of women into space to study how their bodies cope with zero gravity, the space agencies went for the next best option: to test women on the ground. There is one big problem with ground-based tests though: gravity. On Earth, our hearts pump blood to our brains against the force of gravity, while other muscles and bones become strong to counter its pull. In orbit, the heart gets used to having a much easier job and bones and muscles waste away because they don't have to work so hard.

In one month, an astronaut can expect to lose up to 2% of the bone from the legs, feet and lower spine and suffer more than an 8% loss in muscle power. Astronauts returning from six month missions on the international space station are sometimes too weak to walk. The biological consequences of longer missions to Mars, as tentatively planned by both the Europeans and the Americans, are big unknowns.

What few studies have been done in the past show there are some significant differences between the sexes when it comes to space flight. The most striking is that female astronauts are far more susceptible to a condition called orthotic intolerance, making them more likely to faint when they stand up once they are back on Earth. More subtle differences may be revealed once scientists have had time to pick over the results of the Wise study, which ends in December.

Doctors believe they have found a good way of simulating the effects of weightlessness on Earth: simply have people lie in beds that are fixed at an angle of six degrees, pushing their feet a touch above their heads.

But what is a solution for the space agency doctors is a challenge for those women volunteers. In all, a dozen women are lying in beds at the MEDES space clinic at the Rangueil hospital, Toulouse. For 60 days, they will have their feet above their heads while they eat, sleep, drink, shower and go to the toilet, in return for a payment of £10,300.

Morag, who is 35 and would only give her first name, is the sole Briton. "I'm always game for a challenge and the thought of helping future space missions really appealed to me," she said. "My friends thought I was insane and my father, who's a retired chemist, was deeply sceptical of the whole thing."

After filling out a 17-page application form and passing physical and psychological tests, she was admitted to the study and began 20 days of medical examination of her heart, bones, muscles and metabolism. The women were then split into three groups - one that would get special food, Morag's, which would be allowed to do bed-based exercises, and a third that would do next to nothing. The women were then sent in twos to separate rooms to begin the task.

"I had a headache for the first day and a half and I didn't sleep at all the first night because it feels like your intestines are in your throat, like there's a large lump at the mouth of your stomach," said Morag. "But after about three days, your body gets used to it. You start to feel you're horizontal even though you know you aren't."

Because the doctors running the experiment need to monitor the volunteers' food intake, meals are given at strict times and every morsel must be eaten.

Now, at the half-way stage of the two-month project, the novelty of the situation is beginning to wear off for many of the women. For Morag, the experiment was also an opportunity to take some time out and re-evaluate her life. But with the basic functions of life becoming arduous chores, there is little time to focus on the big questions .

"At first it was quite nice. I don't have to make my food, I'm waited on, I don't have to wash my clothes, I can just lie around not doing anything. But I'm starting to go a little bit spare," she said.

The hardship is not going unnoticed. Dr Jost said: "I admire these women. They are pioneers contributing to the effort of human space flight."

For Morag, the end is becoming ever more attractive. "When I get out, I imagine I won't be able to walk too well at first, but it's meant to be quite funny. I look forward to going back to my normal life. Just being outside in the fresh air, being able to go where I want and eat what I want. People say we're guinea pigs, but if we are, we're happy guinea pigs."

Chapter V

Man and Justice

Criminal Punishment

1. Study the vocabulary:

to maim - wound or injure (a person or animal) so that part of the body is permanently damaged 100,000 soldiers were killed or maimed

to defray - to pay (a cost or expense)

 be bifurcated – divided into two branches or forks

solitary confinement – maximum security

minimum security

banishment - высылка, изгнание, ссылка

2. Expand on the following issues:

Criminal law versus civil law

Different kinds of punishments

The philosophy of correction

The law of equal retaliation

Penology and criminology

Compensation: fines, restitution and community service

Incarceration: jails, prisons. Solitary confinement – minimum security

Self-help educational and counseling programs – rehabilitation-oriented programs

Shock probation

Boot camps

Banishment or exile

Capital punishment

3. Speak on modern forms of criminal punishment: