Animals and Phones in Space

There where two interesting little blurbs in the Science Tuesday section of the Times yesterday. The first was about sending animals into space, the other was about sending smart phones into space.

The smart phone one was pretty cool. They sent up standard Google Nexus One phones ups and had them send images back to determine whether this technology can be used in satellites. The phones are named Alexander, Graham and Bell. Which is a nice coincidence considering they just released recording of Alexander Graham Bell's voice that had been lost for over a century.

The animals flight was much more interesting. They sent up gerbils, mice, geckos and snails to test the effects of prolonged space flight on living creatures. The best part is that they will be studying the sperm of the mice to try and determine how possible it would be for people to re-produce in space. This means we're one step closer to the a "space arc".

The Times makes a point of noting that the animals are expected to survive re-entry, the phones will not.