My friend Bug Girl (an entomologist and Skepchick) sent me a note about a cool opportunity for U.S. east coast teachers: you can participate in a Shuttle experiment involving Monarch butterflies in space!
When Atlantis launches next week, it will be carrying some Monarch caterpillars to be taken aboard the Space Station, where they will hatch and be observed. Lots of questions will be investigated: What happens when pupae burst open in space? How will the butterflies cope? Will their migrating instinct be satisfied by moving 7 km/sec across the face of the Earth?
OK, I made up that last one, but Monarch Watch is looking to get teachers and students involved in the real science of butterflies in microgravity. But HURRY! They need your email by tomorrow, Friday, November 6! So if you’re an east coast teacher, go to Bug Girl’s blog and see how you can join in on the insecty fun.
November 5th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Lots of questions will be investigated: What happens when pupae burst open in space?
Answer: Green goo spills all over the place (I cut one open once, when I was a kid, to see what’s inside).
November 5th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Thanks BA! I thought it was a cool mixture of your world and mine
November 5th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Bug Girl on BA !!!! oh, I’m Tanstaafl56 over on skepchick…
November 5th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
It’ll be interesting to see how butterflies fly in microgravity. Oh, and: COOL!
November 5th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
∀x, x in space > x
November 5th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
What happens when pupae burst open in space?
Good God, man! Don’t you watch the documentaries on the SciFi channel?
There will be carnage! If we’re lucky, the “butterflies” won’t fly the shuttle back to earth after they absorb the crew.
November 5th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
So what does NASA have against people living west of the Rocky Mountains?
Sayeth an Alaskan mom who would just LOVE to send this info on to the dotter’s teacher, except we are definitely west of the Rockies.
November 5th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
“There will be carnage! If we’re lucky, the “butterflies” won’t fly the shuttle back to earth after they absorb the crew.”
I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.
November 5th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Did anyone else read this blog post title and immediately think of Freeman Dyson’s “Infinite in All Directions”?
November 5th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
My first thought after reading this post was that based on her logo, Bug Girl must be Andorian
November 5th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Bug Girl? Does she have six legs?
Watch out, those butterflies may absorb ‘cosmic radiation’ and turn into Mothra (now, all we need is tiny twins)
J/P=?
November 5th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
I’d be really interested in how they fly in zero gravity seeing as they wouldn’t need to produce lift. I suppose if they’re ‘born’ like that though they won’t know any different.
November 5th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Cute avatar. Is she really Andorian?
I can remember the spiders that went aboard Skylab in the seventies. It took them a couple of tries to build a web that looked anything like the ones they would build on Earth.
November 5th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I hope you’re planning to publish the results.
November 5th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
@Caleb,
Nope, I immediately thought of the Muppets:
“Piiiiggsss… iiinnnn… SPPPAAAAACCCCEEEEE!”
November 5th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Monarchs flapping their wings inside the ISS? Explains Dec 2012! :]
November 13th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Open to all teachers!! Painted lady butterflies also will go to ISS on Atlantis next week. Complete instructions for using this with students can be found on BioEd Online (www.bioedonline.org) and K8 Science (www.k8science.org) free-of-charge. Photos from space will be made available on the site for students to use for their own research questions.
This is real science for kids!!