The blob will now be part of an experiment conducted by astronauts aboard the ISS (Representational)
Paris:
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station will welcome a very unusual guest as “de Blob” launches into orbit on Tuesday.
The Blob, an alien on its own planet, is an unclassifiable organism – neither fish nor fowl. Nor is it a plant, animal or fungus.
As such, Physarum polycephalum – a type of slime mold – has long fascinated scientists and will now be part of a unique experiment conducted simultaneously by astronauts hundreds of miles above Earth and hundreds of thousands of French school students.
The slime mold first appeared on Earth about 500 million years ago and defies conventional biology because it consists of a single cell with several nuclei.
While most organisms grow and reproduce by dividing and multiplying cells, Physarum polycephalum does not.
“It’s a single cell that grows without ever dividing,” explains Pierre Ferrand, a professor of Earth Sciences and Life seconded to the French space agency CNES, one of the people behind the project.
Another oddity: “If most organisms make do with two sex types, de Blob has more than 720. It’s a ‘loaded’ organism that tells us that life consists of a multitude of originalities,” he says.
What a person’s cell can do
A yellowish, spongy mass, the slime mold lacks a mouth, legs, or brain.
But despite these apparent drawbacks, the fungus eats, grows, moves – albeit very slowly – and has amazing learning skills.
Because the Blob’s DNA floats freely in its cell walls — rather than sitting in a nucleus — it can “repel” parts of itself at will.
It can also go into a dormant state due to dehydration — called “sclerotia.”
And it’s several pieces of sclerotia that will begin their odyssey aboard an ISS-fueling freighter.
When rehydrated in September, four sclerotia — each about the size of the average pinkie nail — will be awakened from their anesthesia in their Petri dish beds.
The samples—both shaved from the same “parent Blob cell” (labeled LU352 by scientists)—will undergo two protocols: one will deprive certain sub-blobs of food; the others will be able to eat a food source – oatmeal porridge.
The goal is to observe the effects of weightlessness on this organism – but as an educational experience, a giant school experiment reaching into space. No scientific papers are expected as part of the mission’s design.
“No one knows what its behavior will be in a microgravity environment: which direction will it move? Will it take the third dimension by going up or going sideways?” asks Ferrand.
“I’m curious if it develops by forming pillars,” said Blob specialist Audrey Dussutour, director of the Center for Research on Animal Cognition in Toulouse.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, thousands of specimens cut from the same LU352 strain will be distributed to approximately 4,500 schools and universities in France.
“More than 350,000 students will ‘touch’ the Blob,” said Christine Correcher, who leads the space agency’s educational program.
At the end of this month, the teachers will receive kits containing three to five sclerotia.
When the Blob’s sections in space are revived, their cohorts will also be rehydrated on Earth.
Observations will then begin to compare the differences in how the monsters in space adapt compared to those on Earth — which may shed light on fundamental questions surrounding life’s basic building blocks.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
