'Blob' sent to International Space Station; To be experimented on Earth and Space

The astronauts positioned at the International Space Station will be joined by an unusual visitor “the Blob”. On Tuesday, the Blob was launched into orbit. This living organism, which has been a mystery on Earth, is an uncategorised element. It is neither fish nor fowl. It's also not a plant, an animal, or a fungus. 

The Blob is basically the simple term of Physarum polycephalum, a slime mould. Scientists have been curious for many years to know more about this unique organism which will soon be part of a ground-breaking experiment that will include astronauts living hundreds of kilometres above the Earth’s surface and hundreds of thousands of French students on the ground. 

The most interesting fact about the Blob is that it is made up of one cell with several nuclei, it simply contradicts traditional biology. Physarum polycephalum does not develop and reproduce by cell division and multiplication, as do other organisms. It was originally formed on Earth approximately 500 million years ago.

According to Pierre Ferrand, a professor of Earth sciences and life who seconded to French space agency CNES, while most creatures only have two sex kinds, the Blob has around 720. He said, “It is a 'drawer' organism that shows us that life is made up of a variety of originalities.”

More about the 500-Year-Old Blob 

The strangest part about the slimy mould is that it is a yellowish, spongy mass with no mouth, legs, or brain. Despite these drawbacks, the mould eats, develops, moves slowly, and has incredible learning ability. It discards a portion of itself voluntarily because its DNA floats freely inside its cell walls rather than being confined within a nucleus.

How will the experimentation take place? 

The Blob can also go dormant by dehydrating, a process known as "sclerotia." In the station, many pieces of this sclerotia will be sent for further experiment.   

Four sclerotia, each approximately the size of a pinky fingernail, will be woken by hydrating from their hibernation in their Petri-dish beds when they are in September. 

The samples, which were sheared from the same "parent Blob cell" which is named LU352, will be subjected to two protocols: one will starve specific sub-Blobs, while the other will be permitted to feast themselves on porridge oats. 

The objective is to study is to witness the effects of weightlessness on this creature as a learning experience, a massive classroom experiment that stretches into space. As part of the mission's design, no scientific articles are expected. 

On the other hand, on Earth, thousands of samples derived from the same LU352 variant will be given to 4,500 French schools and institutions. Teachers will get kits containing three to five sclerotia by the end of this month. When the Blob's portions are rehydrated in space, their companions will be rehydrated on Earth, as well. Following that, observations will begin to examine the differences in how samples in space vs Earth adapt. The Blob was sent to the International Space Station on the keg-like spacecraft from the Wallops Flight Facility of NASA in Virginia.  

(Image Credit: AP)