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Viable Mammal Embryos In Space Demonstrated by Chinese Experiment (chinadaily.com.cn)

hackingbear writes: "The latest experiment results from China's SJ-10 recoverable satellite have been sent back with some groundbreaking news. For the first time in human history, it has been proven that the early stages of embryos in mammals can be developed completely in a space environment," according to China Daily. "High-resolution photographs sent back by SJ-10 show that the mouse embryos carried by the return capsule completed the entire developing process within 96 hours from the launch, the first reported successful development of mammalian embryos in space."

The U.S. conducted similar experiment on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1996 and China conducted one abroad its SJ-8 in 2006, neither was able to show any viable embryos back then. "The human race may still have a long way to go before we can colonize the space. But before that, we have to figure out whether it is possible for us to survive and reproduce in the outer space environment like we do on Earth. Now, we finally proved that the most crucial step in our reproduction – the early embryo development -- is possible in the outer space," said Duan Enkui, Professor of the Institute of Zoology affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and principle researcher of the experiment.

22 comments

  1. Give me a chance by ozduo · · Score: 1, Funny

    Put me on a spacecreaft with a female chinese crew and I'll prove that reproduction is possible. And FUN!!!!

    --
    I got to the chocolate box before you, that's why the hard ones have teeth marks.
    1. Re:Give me a chance by dsmatthews9379 · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but can you deal with this when it happens in zero g? http://cdn2.mommyish.com/wp-co...

    2. Re:Give me a chance by PPH · · Score: 0

      Not my job. I don't get involved until they are old enough for Pop Warner.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    3. Re:Give me a chance by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1, Funny

      I don't get involved until they are old enough for Pop Warner.

      You're old-fashioned. I don't get involved until they're drafted into the NBA.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    4. Re:Give me a chance by careysub · · Score: 2

      Although no doubt contraception was used, you most likely would not be the first member of the "200 Mile Club". Astronaut memoirs may one day provide candid public discussion regarding this.

      Jan Davis and Mark Lee, who were the first married couple to go to space in 1991, and were on their honeymoon. This was an unusual situation, NASA does not send up married couples as a rule, but these two were training for a specific mission together when they got involved and married. Changing the mission crew would have delayed the mission, so up they went. Despite the close quarters, and busy schedule I would think that the other astronauts would be able to find some way to stay busy, while the newlyweds "got busy" at some point.

      Then there is the interesting case of Elena Kondakova and Valery Polyakov who spent a few months together alone on Mir in the 1990s, and who did some rather outrageous flirting on camera, raising curiosity about what they were doing off camera.

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
    5. Re:Give me a chance by CaptnCrud · · Score: 1

      I knew about Jan and Mark Lee on the shuttle but I had no idea about the mir thing, that's awesome.

      In mike mulane's book riding rockets, he mentioned that they suspected both jan and mark probably had sex (he wasn't on that flight).

      Lots of interesting and funny stories in that book, one seemed to insinuate that they all knew (or suspected) sally ride was gay and that her marriage to hoot gibson didn't really seem to make much sense (since he was described as being a very planet AD womanizing type fighter jock and she was a pretty hardcore feminist).

      He didn't seem to get along with her and said she always acted like she had a chip on her shoulder and kind had no sense of humour, he also thought judith reznik deserved being the first american woman in space more since judith wanted to be a career astronaut and he felt sally ride was more there for the prestige (I guess since she only flew twice before leaving). ....mind you this was all wrote about years before she died, I doubt he would have said much about her today.

    6. Re:Give me a chance by CaptnCrud · · Score: 1

      oops meant hawely, not gibson.

    7. Re:Give me a chance by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 2

      Jan Davis and Mark Lee, who were the first married couple to go to space in 1991, and were on their honeymoon. This was an unusual situation, NASA does not send up married couples as a rule, but these two were training for a specific mission together when they got involved and married. Changing the mission crew would have delayed the mission, so up they went. Despite the close quarters, and busy schedule I would think that the other astronauts would be able to find some way to stay busy, while the newlyweds "got busy" at some point.

      And yet somehow, NASA has made last minute substitutions to flight crews for illnesses without a delay in any of the missions. It is very likely that NASA would have split the couple up if they did not want them there. A much more plausible explanation was that given the opportunity of having a married couple in space, NASA chose to maximize the research opportunities it allowed (versus dealing with various morality issues if they were not married to each other).

  2. 150 AD inquiry by Empiric · · Score: 1

    (sig)

    --
    ~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
  3. Colonize space - with mice by gavron · · Score: 3, Funny

    I, for one, am happy to welcome our space mouse overlords.

    I at no point fed you guys a bunch of sacharine, aspartame, or anything else.
    The one thing "determined to cause cancer in laboratory rats" is... lab researchers.

    My best and mousiest wishes.

    Ehud Gavron
    Mouseville Tx

    1. Re:Colonize space - with mice by antdude · · Score: 1
      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    2. Re:Colonize space - with mice by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      You do know the universe is run by mice, right?. So this research is merely the next step in their experiments and getting the one true answer.

    3. Re:Colonize space - with mice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's send mice to Mars, what could happen? :v

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdSDuJu04xU

  4. Not without iced jickstrap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Human testicles do not *dangle* in zero gee. Without a chilled jockstrap, which tends to kill interest, your fertility will be nearly zero.

    Also "early embryo development" does not include the fomation of a notochord or spine, both of which are likely to involve gravitational stress factors on the embryo to provide some kind of directional alignment. This "exciting experiment" is about as viable as the growth on a .com business model. It's interesting, but it doesn't prove much.

  5. the Viable Embryos by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    with their hit song: Chinese Experiment on SJ-10!!!

  6. Viability argument of abortionists by apetrelli · · Score: 1

    Dismissed in a single experiment. Cool.

    1. Re:Viability argument of abortionists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WTF? How is it dismissed by this vivisection?
      How surprising, somebody who is in favour of millions of animals being tortured to death, to save YOUR sorry ass, is also in favour of unborn babies being cut up alive in their mothers' wombs, to save YOUR sorry ass from 'inconvenience', no doubt.

    2. Re:Viability argument of abortionists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Viability argument of abortionists... dismissed in a single experiment

      Huh? Care to clarify?

      I'm not arguing any point, I just don't know what the heck you're talking about.

  7. More animal torturing, called 'science' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But... but... without animal 'research', we would all die immediately! It's not as if 99.9% of the causes of premature death have been eradicated through vastly better sanitation, nutrition, and housing conditions, is it?

  8. Anyone else misread the headline as "Mammoths"? by cyberchondriac · · Score: 1

    I wondered if they were trying to clone Wooly Mammoths in zero G, at first. Space Mammoths, what a concept.

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    Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
  9. Sponsors by DrYak · · Score: 1

    And I'm sure about a dozen of internet companies with name containing elements like "X", "You", "Red", "Porn", "Tube", "Hub", "hasmter" - and various combinations thereof - will all be willing to pool the necessary money in exchange to the rights of streaming the content of the experiment's visual footage.

    For science, you know...

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]