Scientific Method: Application to fly experiment

Here is an opportunity for students to observe and hypothesize what might happen to the immune system in Drosophila after spaceflight.

In the Flies in Space experiment, flies will be divided into three groups: 1) flies that spent their entire life on Earth, 2) flies that were born on Earth but traveled in space, and 3) flies that were born and raised in space.

When they all return to the ground, they will be exposed to bacteria and their immune response will be studied. Each group will also be exposed to fungus from Earth that flew on the space shuttle.

What do you think will happen to the fruit flies? Will there be a difference in the immune response of flies that flew in space as compared to those on the ground? Will there be a difference in the immune response of flies that grew up on Earth then traveled to space compared to ones that were born and raised in the space environment? Will there be a difference in the immune response to bacteria and fungus?

We invite you to submit your predictions! You may answer any of the questions above, or another question of your choice related to this experiment. Qualifying predictions will be posted on this website and analyzed by scientists after the shuttle flight!

Previous Page

Next Page