The key to farming on Mars might be breeding parasitic space worms

By Luke Dormehl September 27, 2020, DigitalTrends   The parasitic space worms are coming, and they’re ready to kill. No, it’s not the tagline for some Tremors in Space B-movie monster flick. Instead, it’s the result of some research recently published in the journal npj Microgravity. And despite how it sounds, it’s actually good news. (Spoiler: it’s not us that they’re killing.) Here’s the issue: One of the many, many problems that need to be solved before space colonization can take place is what people are going to eat. Right now, astronauts rely on packets of dehydrated food that are launched into space either on their original journey or on top-up resupply missions. However, this… Read More

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Space, The Final Frontier – For Nematodes

Pheronym’s Fourth Peer-Reviewed Study Contains Surprising Findings for Interstellar Agriculture and Earth DAVIS, CA, UNITED STATES, August 10, 2020 — Pheronym, an ag-biotech pest control company, announced today the results of their fourth peer-reviewed study, this one focused on the results of their collaboration with the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (manager of the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory) and USDA-ARS during onboard experiments conducted on the International Space Station (ISS) between December 2019 and January 2020.  The study, published in Nature Partner Journal/npj Microgravity, highlights that nematodes successfully emerged from consumed insect host cadavers, moved through soil, found and infected bait-insects in a manner equivalent to Earth… Read More

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Examining the Socioeconomic Benefits of the International Space Station at SETI Institute

Secure World Foundation and the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory are co-hosting a two-event series on the socioeconomic benefits of conducting research and development onboard the ISS. The series will highlight important work being done on the ISS that benefits global efforts such as the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. This first event will take place in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a second event to be hosted in Washington, D.C. Dr. Kaplan at Pheronym is honored to be invited to talk about how utilizing the ISS has been instrumental to Pheronym’s mission in contributing towards agriculture on earth and feeding the world. Come and talk to… Read More

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Why this company sent worms into space on a SpaceX capsule that’s returning to Earth

By Alex Soderstrom  – Jan 3, 2020, 4:49pm EST  The capsule, which launched from Florida’s Space Coast, will splash down next week in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Long Beach, California.   Pheronym uses pheromones to control microscopic roundworms for agricultural purposes. What do you think about the research happening on the International Space Station? Keep reading

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New Payloads From ISS National Lab Implementation Partner NanoRacks Launch to the ISS

December 16, 2019, by ISS360: THE ISS NATIONAL LAB BLOG When SpaceX’s 19th commercial resupply services mission launched to the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this month (December 2019), it carried close to 5,700 pounds of research and supplies to the orbiting laboratory. Among this cargo were several payloads from investigators working with ISS U.S. National Laboratory Implementation Partner NanoRacks. These ISS National Lab-sponsored payloads including An experiment from biotechnology startup Pheronym in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture studying microscopic worms that kill crop-harming insects Read more about these payloads in this recent Space Newsfeed article. To join the mission contact schiller@pheronym.com or support the project visit the AstroNematode shop.

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