Agnirva Space Premier League - Expedition #31681: Slime Molds in Space: Student Study on Microgravity Behavior

What happens when you send a slime mold into space? Students at Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory School of Houston explored this very question through their NanoRacks experiment aboard the ISS. Their mission: investigate how Physarum polycephalum, a simple single-celled organism, behaves in microgravity.

Slime molds are known for their amazing ability to navigate mazes, adapt to changes, and optimize nutrient acquisition. These characteristics make them excellent biological models for studying non-neural intelligence and decentralized decision-making. By sending slime mold samples to space, students aimed to observe changes in growth patterns, morphology, and organization in a zero-gravity environment.

On Earth, slime molds exhibit chemotaxis—movement in response to chemical stimuli—to find food sources. The students hypothesized that without gravity, the mold’s directional sense and spreading behavior might change. Cameras and sensors inside the experiment module recorded the mold’s development, and results were compared with ground-based controls.

This project offered a unique platform for students to learn about biology, microbiology, and space sciences, while gaining experience with experimental design and scientific observation. The success of this experiment inspired other schools to consider space as a laboratory for learning.

It turns out, even the simplest organisms can help us understand complex systems, and student-led science can make it to orbit and beyond.

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