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I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually rooting for these roaches.
http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060807/full/060807-7.html
Still, I had to laugh when I got to this part:
:)
Now, if only we can see how these roaches deal with the meerkats...
Zz.
http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060807/full/060807-7.html
Still, I had to laugh when I got to this part:
At 100 millibars — one-tenth of normal atmospheric pressure - the bugs actively pumped air into their abdomens to survive, he found, swelling themselves up in the process to about one and a half times the normal size. "It's pretty gross actually," says Cockell.
Bigelow Aerospace tested a number of different cockroaches and found that the Madagascar hissing roach, which can grow to more than 7.5 centimetres long and can weigh as much as 24 grams, proved that they had the right stuff by enduring more than 2 hours in a vacuum. "After 20 to 30 minutes they came back to life and we thought 'Oh my gosh, they deserve to go to space'," says Bigelow.
:)
Now, if only we can see how these roaches deal with the meerkats...
Zz.