The International Space Station astronauts will be welcoming "the Blob", an unusual guest that launches into orbit Tuesday.The Blob, an alien living on its own planet is neither fowl nor fish and is therefore unclassifiable. It is not a plant, animal, or even fungus.Physarum Polycephalum, a type slime mold that has fascinated scientists for centuries, will now be part in a unique experiment by astronauts hundreds and thousands of kilometers above the Earth.Slime mold was first discovered on Earth 500 million years ago. It defies all conventional biology as it is composed of one cell with multiple nuclei.While most organisms reproduce and grow through division and multiplication, Physarum Polycephalum doesn't.Pierre Ferrand, a professor of Earth sciences, and a seconded scientist at the French space agency CNES is one of the people behind this project.Another strange fact: While most organisms can only afford two types of sex, the Blob has more than 700. He says that it is an organism "with drawers", which means that it tells us that there are many originalities to life."You are what your cell can doThe slime mold is a yellowish, spongy, lump that lacks any mouth, legs, or brain.Despite these obvious disadvantages, mold can still eat, grow, move, even though it does so very slowly, and has incredible learning abilities.Blob's DNA is free to move around in its cells, rather than being enclosed within a nucleus. It can "slough off” parts of itself because it doesn't need to be contained within a nucleus.You can also make it go into a dormant condition by drying out, called "sclerotia".Physarum Polycephalum. (Audrey Dussutour/CNRS)It is not just one piece of sclerotia, but several that will embark on an odyssey aboard ISS refueling cargoer.After being hydrated in September, four sclerotia approximately the same size as the average pinky fingernail can be awakened from their sleep in their Petri dish beds.Two protocols will be used to separate the two samples taken from the same "parent cell" (labeled LU352 by scientists). One will restrict certain sub-Blobs from food while the other will allow them to consume porridge oats.It is intended to study the effects of weightlessness upon this organism. However, it will also serve as an educational experience. The mission will not include any scientific papers."No one knows its behavior in microgravity. What direction will it go in?" Is it going to go up, or sideways? Ferrand asks.Audrey Dussutour (Blob specialist), director of the Centre for Research on Animal Cognition, Toulouse: "I'll be interested to see if they develop by forming pillars."During this time, approximately 4,500 French schools and colleges will receive thousands of samples from the same LU352 strain.Christine Correcher, the educational director of the space agency's educational programs, says that "more than 350,000 students will touch the Blob".Teachers will be provided with kits containing three to five sclerotia at the end of the month.The Blob's sections will be revived in space and their companions will be rehydrated on Earth.The observations will allow us to see how samples on Earth and in space adapt. This may help us understand the fundamental building blocks of life.Agence France-Presse
