Silkworm Experiments Reveal Space Radiation Effects on Development
Japanese researchers studying silkworm eggs flown in space found that cosmic radiation and spaceflight conditions caused higher frequencies of developmental abnormalities and embryonic mutations.
Newsnibs Staff
- 2026-09-15
- Updated 6:33 AM UTC
(Tsukuba, Japan)
Japanese researchers have used silkworm eggs across space missions to study how cosmic radiation and spaceflight affect developing organisms. In May 1997, eggs spent nine days in orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis during the STS-84 mission.
According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, flight samples exhibited developmental abnormalities at higher frequencies than ground controls. These included mottling and restricted body segmentation. A published study by researcher Toshiharu Furusawa and colleagues reported a roughly twofold higher frequency of incomplete embryonic reversal in the flight eggs, alongside increased segment fusion and abnormal crescent markings.
More than a decade later, the agency launched the Rad Silk investigation in 2009 to examine long-term cosmic radiation effects by placing silkworm eggs aboard the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory.
Ground-based trials associated with the research indicated that radiation exposure during the second and third days of embryonic development caused higher mutation rates. Scientists utilized a black-skinned strain of silkworm for these trials. Mutations in this strain appeared as visible white spots on larvae during the fifth instar stage, and the number of spots varied with radiation exposure levels.
Photo by Lets Fly on Unsplash
