Agnirva Space Premier League - Expedition #32385: Living in Space: How Plants and Animals Adapt Beyond Earth

STEMonstrations: Living Things is an engaging educational project developed by NASA to help students explore how living organisms behave in space. Conducted on the International Space Station (ISS), this experiment showcases how the absence of gravity impacts the biological processes of plants and animals—bringing classroom biology to life in orbit.

Every living organism on Earth has evolved under the influence of gravity. But what happens when you take away that constant downward pull? That’s exactly what this STEMonstration reveals. Through video demonstrations and hands-on classroom activities, students see firsthand how life forms adapt to microgravity environments.

In the experiment, astronauts highlight how plants orient their growth, how animals like fish or insects move and behave, and how these behaviors differ from those on Earth. For instance, without gravity guiding root growth, plants rely on light cues more heavily. Animals might appear disoriented at first, then gradually adapt to the zero-gravity environment.

The project is designed to make life science more relatable and thrilling for students. Instead of reading about photosynthesis or nervous systems in a textbook, students can observe the same processes happening in space. These visual demonstrations are coupled with classroom materials that let students recreate similar experiments on Earth, comparing results.

This initiative also helps teach the scientific method—posing hypotheses, running controlled experiments, and analyzing results. Students become scientists, testing how living things adapt to new environments, and understanding the importance of experimentation in learning about life beyond Earth.

Through Living Things, NASA fosters curiosity about biology and environmental science, encouraging students to think about the challenges of sustaining life on long-duration space missions. What does it take to grow food in space? How do humans stay healthy in zero gravity? These questions form the basis of future space exploration and are addressed through real ISS research.

STEMonstrations: Living Things proves that learning biology doesn't have to be limited to Earth—and the universe is the ultimate laboratory.

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