National Space Biomedical Research Institute

Here is the link to the BioEd Online site for the complete photo archive
http://www.bioedonline.org

It's fascinating to see how fast a caterpillar pupates from start to finish...

Pictures???? Are they all J'ing in the same direction?

Doesn't look like it. Looks like one is trying or has attached to the "ceiling."

We tested in the ground-based habitat a few weeks ago, and the larvae formed their chysalises at the top of the habitat. BioServe Space Technologies used the spaceflight habitat on the Space Station last year.

Thank you very much for these daily PowerPoint presentations. It's going to make our analysis of the data much easier.

Those little guys if they're like ours are very proficient at processing the food. It took some cleaning it out to give them enough room to hang in the little cups. Are they cocooning yet? We have about 6 or so that are out of around 40.

Yes, we have our first painted lady chrysalis! The other larvae are in "J" formation and getting ready to form their chrysalises.

I love this! And by using a widget, I have been able to post both the photos and the live feed from Houston on our school website. Everyone is curious!

No, because there isn't any gravity in space. Animals, including humans, float in a weightless environment. It will be interesting to learn how the butterflies will move around in this environment--without the normal forces of gravity affecting movement.

Will this make their brains grow differently and will they be allowed to breed if they get back? We could have a new species of superbutterflies

Do you think there will be a delay in growth of the pupa due to differnt environmental conditions? What are the Biomedical teams's hypothesis about the results of this project? And can you tell us more about the storage module or type of container the Protocol rode in on the space shuttle to the ISS? Do you have pictures of the astronauts unloading and setting up the module?

In this experiment, we're hoping to learn more about microgravity's effect on growth and behavior of the Painted Lady larvae and butterflies. We're letting each participating class and organization develop their own hypotheses.

From our colleagues at BioServe Space Technologies: The habitats went to the Space Station in a middeck locker stowage container on the shuttle. At this point, BioServe has not seen any photos of installation. Since the crew was extremely busy during that time, it is likely none were taken.

I'm doing it w/ my 4th graders. We've made butterfly journals where we compare our butterflies' progress to those in space everyday. The kids have gotten really excited about it.

Seem ours have doubled in size. We have gone through one molt so far. Students had a difficult time imagining what it was like. I decribed it as wearing a jacket that is too tight and small. And.. asked them what they do when it is too tight. They said get out of it and wear something bigger. The light bulbs went on then. We learned about instar... Read More stages and molting. Ahhh robust vocabulary!! For K and grade 1, I read them 2 books today that helped students to understand that concept. They are:Butterflies By Susan Jones Leeming ISBN 0-328-13192-x, and I'm a Caterpillar By Jean Mazollo ISBN 0-590-84779-1.Do you think you will have enough larval food to get them to pupa stage? I am a little worried about that.

There is plenty of food in the habitat for the larvae and enough for the larvae to pupate.