NASA Sent Jellyfish to Space. Their Babies Came Back Different.

In June 1991, NASA launched 2,478 moon jellyfish into orbit aboard Space Shuttle Columbia. Up there, baby jellyfish were born that had never felt gravity. They looked perfect — eight arms, eight gravity sensors, crystals and all. But back on Earth, six times more of them couldn't swim properly. Their sensors were fine. So what went wrong? And what does it mean for the first humans who will be born on Mars? You may have read that 60,000 jellyfish came back from space. That never happened: 60,000 is how many Dr. Dorothy Spangenberg had to raise on Earth so NASA could choose the 2,478 that flew. CHAPTERS 0:00 Born in orbit 1:13 Which Way Is Down 3:20 The Jellyfish Lady 5:44 Born Without Down 7:37 The Return 9:55 How Much Gravity Is Enough? 11:37 Back to you Featuring: Dr. Dorothy B. Spangenberg (Eastern Virginia Medical School), STS-40 / Spacelab Life Sciences 1 (Columbia, 5–14 June 1991), astronaut Tamara Jernigan, IML-2 / STS-65 (July 1994), the Mir quail chicks (1990) and the Neurolab rat pups (STS-90, 1998). Sources: - NASA Life Sciences Data Archive — Spangenberg, "Jellyfish development in space" (SLS-1, IML-2) - Spangenberg D.B. et al., NASA Technical Reports (ntrs.nasa.gov 19950029061, 19990062734) - PubMed 11537934 — Rhopalia and statolith formation in Aurelia ephyrae developed in space - NASA STS-40 mission page; "Liftoff to Learning: From Undersea to Outer Space" (NASA) - Cartwright et al. 2007, PLOS ONE — Exceptionally preserved jellyfishes from the Middle Cambrian - Neurolab results, ntrs.nasa.gov 20030068213; Ronca et al. 2008, Behavioral Neuroscience - Purves et al., Neuroscience — the otolith organs (NCBI Bookshelf NBK10792) #space #nasa #jellyfish