Out of this Universe

https://sites.google.com/view/nasachallenge2022/

https://youtu.be/gCz3HNZxZ90

Our goal is to create a website that can serve as a starting point for people to explore information and knowledge about space travel challenges to human beings. We hope it to be informative and interactive at the same time, which differentiates it from all the other websites that offer barely anything more than posts and videos at best.

Upon opening the home page, we start by introducing the imaginary space biology superhero we created, the Flying Pikachu. It combines traits from all the creatures we listed on the Natural Inspiration page, and it’s super cute! In addition to the picture we drew, we also used Scratch to generate an interactive presentation, where Flying Pikachu tells the audience which animal did it get its body parts from, and how they help with survival in space travel.

After this section, we started listing out the challenges and inspirations we got from nature. We will be able to click on the images to go to articles online that offer more detailed explanations for curious users, and we also have separate pages that include longer lists of such items.

After that section comes the description of the technology that can be useful, which is genome editing. We introduced three advanced genome editing methods, and clicking the image will direct the user to the NIH website about genome editing.

At the bottom of the home page are the 30-second demo video and the full-length video for the NASA Space App challenge, as well as our contact information in case our users have any questions.

The Challenges and Natural Inspiration pages are rather self-explanatory. We also have a page specifically for our space hero Chorós Emvios. We included a video about an imaginary journey about how we went to outer space and discovered this amazing creature. Below the video, we showed how we really came up with this cute creature – through dedicated research and wild imagination. Users can find our research notes and drawing draft in the image carousal.

The last page is the Teams page. We listed out introductions of our teammates, as well as some fun pictures of us working and relaxing together.

By balancing between being informative and interactive, we hope to engage audiences to join us in exploring the infinite possibilities for us to learn from our neighbors on this planet in pursuit of our dreams to voyaging to the distant ones.

The tools we used include:

Scratch

Google sites

Adobe Premier

Canva

Photoshop

Docs

Sketchbook

EnvatoElements

We started with the article “5 Hazards of Human Spaceflight” on the NASA website with the link below:

https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/5-hazards-of-human-spaceflight

This article listed out basic challenges to human space travel. We researched further and generated a long list of challenges, and started identifying creatures that exhibits traits that can help resolving these challenges.

We also went through the Space Biology Program page to get a basic understanding of space biology and how experiments are done in space, which creatures are currently involved, and what these experiments are designed for. The link is:

https://science.nasa.gov/biological-physical/programs/space-biology

Although the Space Apps Challenge is really difficult, We are very glad that we participated, because we learned a lot and made new friends! We learned a lot of new knowledge, such as newborn bees having no circadian rhythms, and only developing them later in their lives. We also learned that planarians can regenerate lost body parts and that radiotrophic fungi absorb radiation and convert that into chemical energy. Most importantly, through learning new knowledge, We learned about how to do research online, and how to work as a responsible team member.

We first went through the information on the NASA website and searched online to identify the challenges that space travel brings, then we started looking for animals that have specific traits to help handle such challenges. We then used our wild imagination to combine these traits and came up with our space biology superhero, the Chorós Emvios (a.k.a. the Flying Pikachu)! Lastly, we put together all the information on the website and created the demo video and final video for the project. We had a lot of fun acting and recording the videos!

We’ve encountered several challenges throughout this project. One example is that we were hoping to create a special animation effect on our website, but it turns out Google Slides was not able to do that. We experimented with several different tools until we decide to do the animation through Scratch programming.

We would like to thank Julie and Viviana from the MagiKid Irvine Lab for their help and support for us. We were able to work at the lab for two straight days and worked as a team to figure everything out. We would also like to thank our parents for their support! 

Tools:

Scratch

Google sites

Adobe Premier

Canva

Photoshop

Docs

Sketchbook

EnvatoElements

Images:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/images/chandra-reveals-the-elementary-nature-of-cassiopeia-a.html

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/68843/nasa-study-low-gravity-cause-reverse-blood-flow-even-clotting/index.html

https://www.timeout.com/usa/news/how-to-watch-todays-historic-nasa-spacex-rocket-launch-052720

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/awesome-8/article/hubble-space-telescope

https://www.viator.com/tours/Seminyak/Bali-Dolphin-Tour-at-Lovina-Gitgit-Waterfall-and-Ulundanu-Beratan/d34198-52474P14

https://www.boredpanda.com/cute-pet-rat-photos/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

https://theconversation.com/tardigrades-were-now-polluting-the-moon-with-near-indestructible-little-creatures-121602

https://iso.500px.com/the-top-20-nature-photos-on-500px-so-far-this-year/

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/crispr-gene-editing-prompts-chaos-in-dna-of-human-embryos-67668

https://metrifit.com/blog/listening-body-clock-can-help-improve-performance/

https://www.ahchealthenews.com/2014/05/09/a-hot-brain-causes-yawning/

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2022/06/28/food-insecurity-caribbean

https://www.fishburne.org/cadet-life/

https://defenders.org/wildlife/dolphins

https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=1791&sharing=yes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planarian

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/639395-bdelloid-rotifer-from-a-birdbath/

https://www.scientiaproject.com/sarisa-radiotrophic-fungi

https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/animal-doesnt-need-oxygen.htm

https://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/naked-molerat-oxygen-fructose.htm

Text:

https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/5-hazards-of-human-spaceflight

https://science.nasa.gov/biological-physical/programs/space-biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unihemispheric_slow-wave_sleep

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3712434/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867418312339

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/bdelloid-rotifers-the-worlds-most-radiation-resistant-animals

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/07/tardigrade-or-water-bear-will-survive-until-the-sun-dies/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotrophic_fungus

https://academic.oup.com/endo/article/139/2/663/2987138

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/gene-editing-digital-press-kit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_treatment_during_spaceflight

https://spacecenter.org/solving-space-transporting-food-to-space/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5975626/

https://www.nature.com/articles/npjmgrav201519

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/science/hyper.html

https://physicsworld.com/a/long-distance-space-travel-addressing-the-radiation-problem/

Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxndOd3kmSs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upp9-w6GPhU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtvIX4s1bTU

#space #organims #rat #dolphin #waterbear #canva #girlpower