While breeding in space has been a topic with some (obvious) controversy associated with it, a few Russian scientists are examining what happens to animals that are conceived among the cosmos.(Space Fellowship) Though the newborn creatures already eat and drink respectively well, microgravity conditions may have had an impact on the natural darkening of their chitinous carapace, a part of a cockroach's exoskeleton.
"Cockroaches are born with a transparent carapace, which gradually turns into brown, and the space cockroaches went darker earlier than usual," the scientist explained, adding that final conclusions would only be able to drawn only after the second female had given birth.
While breeding cockroaches is a start, hopefully scientists will be able to find a higher animal, preferable a mammal (such as a mouse or pig) and allow the animal to not only be conceived in space, but perhaps birthed there as well.
Doing so is the only way to determine whether or not humanity will be able to raise their kids off world, a critical item if we are ever going to inhabit other moons and planets.
Want more space geek news? Then subscribe below via email, RSS or twitter for free updates! Prefer another service? How about via RSS or follow Colony Worlds on Twitter!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
You can either visit the stars or watch them from afar.
But if you choose the former, you'll definitely get a better view.
~Darnell Clayton, 2007
Note: You do not need a Blogger account in order to comment, but you do need to solve the universal puzzle below.