PARIS: Sixty years after Laika the dog became the first living creature to go into orbit, animals are still being sent into space — though these days much smaller creatures are going up.
Julie Robinson, chief scientist for the International Space Station program, explains what we are still learning from animals in orbit.
When those animals were sent into space, it was because people were afraid that mammalian species in general could not survive without gravity, and that people might suffocate.
We really didn’t know what it might be like to live in space without gravity.
Today when we send animal into space we send large numbers of small animals in order to accomplish biomedical research goals.
Just as we do with research on Earth, we typically use rodents, fruit flies, fish and other small animals.
There have been some scientific studies with snails; we are considering rats for the future.
For any experiment we do in space, the astronauts need special training and that is true for animal experiments as well, so they need to know how to operate the habitat and how to do the experiment activities.
With mice, launching is a stressful experience that is stressful for astronauts, too.
When they come onboard and start floating, they are surprised but pretty soon they learn how to use their habitat, how to move around and drink, sleep and eat in a pretty normal way.
Once they are settled, it is a relatively peaceful experience.
The fish adapt very quickly.
The experiments that are done with mice in space are very similar to experiment done with mice on the ground. They are generally targeting areas where we are trying to improve human health such as treatments for osteoporosis and muscle loss.
In space, those small animals are floating like humans do, and they lose (...) bone if they don’t exercise. Same with muscles because they don’t use many muscles.
With mice, those disease processus move pretty quickly; it can be useful for developing treatments for bone loss on Earth or for other aspects of aging.
Fish are also important for looking at bone loss and muscle wasting.
Generally our research has dual purposes — We want to reduce the risk of futures explorations beyond Earth’s orbit, but we also want to have an impact here on Earth, because a lot of those processus are also happening as we age.
Animals in orbit: mice, fish and flies still being sent into space
Animals in orbit: mice, fish and flies still being sent into space
Some Warren Buffett wisdom on his last day leading Berkshire Hathaway
OMAHA, Nebraska: The advice that legendary investor Warren Buffett offered on investing and life over the years helped earn him legions of followers who eagerly read his annual letters and filled an arena in Omaha every year to listen to him at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meetings.
Buffett’s last day as CEO is Wednesday after six decades of building up the Berkshire conglomerate. He’ll remain chairman, but Greg Abel will take over leadership.
Here’s a collection of some of Buffett’s most famous quotes from over the years:
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“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
That’s how Buffett summed up his investing approach of buying out-of-favor stocks and companies when they were selling for less than he estimated they were worth.
He also urged investors to stick with industries they understand that fall within their “circle of competence” and offered this classic maxim: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.”
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“After they first obey all rules, I then want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper to be read by their spouses, children and friends with the reporting done by an informed and critical reporter.
“If they follow this test, they need not fear my other message to them: Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”
That’s the ethical standard Buffett explained to a Congressional committee in 1991 that he would apply as he cleaned up the Wall Street investment firm Salomon Brothers. He has reiterated the newspaper test many times since over the years.
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“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.”
Many companies might do well when times are good and the economy is growing, but Buffett told investors that a crisis always reveals whether businesses are making sound decisions.
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“Who you associate with is just enormously important. Don’t expect that you’ll make every decision right on that. But you are going to have your life progress in the general direction of the people you work with, that you admire, that become your friends.”
Buffett always told young people that they should try to hang out with people who they feel are better than them because that will help improve their lives. He said that’s especially true when choosing a spouse, which might be the most important decision in life.
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“Our unwavering conclusion: never bet against America.”
Buffett has always remained steadfast in his belief in the American capitalist system. He wrote in 2021 that “there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America. Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking.”
