在外太空能培育蝴蝶?

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Today, an experiment to see how butterfly develop in space.

Nancy Moreno: We selected painted lady butterflies([昆]苎胥) – they’re a very common butterfly. They also have a relatively short life cycle .

You're listening to Nancy Moreno, she is a principal investigator(主要研究者) on the butterfly experiment, launched in November 2009, to the International Space Station. The experiment is from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute(美国国家太空生物医学研究所) and University of Colorado at Boulder.

Nancy Moreno: The conditions in orbit allow us to investigate what happens to living systems when they’re not influenced by the pull of gravity on Earth.

At the same time, students and teachers are growing their own butterflies on Earth.

Nancy Moreno: And this is where it starts to get really exciting for all of us here on Earth. Because this is an open-ended experiment.

Every half hour, a photo of the butterflies is taken and posted on a website. Students can use the photos to compare butterflies in their classrooms to the butterflies in space.

Nancy Moreno: So the butterflies in space experiment is allowing students to be active participants in authentic(真实的) science that’s happening in real time. They’re going to be generating their own questions, gathering their own evidence, and coming up with their very own explanations.

Our thanks today to the National Space Biomedical Research Institute – innovations for health in space and on Earth. EarthSky is a clear voice for science. We’re at  www.hxen.net