![]() ![]() Unlike their more massive cousins, they only grow to the size of an average human thumb. “That might give us insights into how we could safeguard humans, for example, by supplementing their diet with foods with increased levels of antioxidants.” Why 128 squid will die on the ISSĪlong with the tardigrades, NASA is sending up a small cephalopod: the bobtail squid. ![]() “If we see that tardigrades are producing a lot of antioxidants,” Boothby says. The researchers will then observe what genes are being turned on or off to help the tardigrades survive in this environment. Some of the tardigrades will be exposed to the radiation of space for a week, while others will be exposed for a longer period of time to test the short and long-term effects of spaceflight. The tardigrades will be frozen for delivery to the ISS, then thawed out, revived, and grown in a special bioculture system. “Our main objective is to identify changes at the level of gene expression that are going on in these really tough, robust animals when they're exposed to the rigors of spaceflight,” Boothby said during a press conference on Wednesday. Being exposed to thousands of times more radiation than humans can endure. ![]()
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