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Blogs > loveisamyth > loveisamyth, stars are forever


loveisamyth 68M
849 posts
4/20/2015 7:05 am

Last Read:
4/21/2015 6:34 am
SPACE YEAST MAKES SPACE BREAD
Thought experiment: Suppose you flew a packet of baker's yeast high above Earth's surface, to the edge of space itself, and exposed the microbes to a blast of cosmic rays. Then you made some bread. How would it taste? "It is delicious," reports Eileen Weingram of Highland Lakes, NJ, who actually did the experiment.



On March 17th, during the strongest geomagnetic storm of the current solar cycle, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew a Space Weather Buoy to the stratosphere. Along with radiation detectors and other sensors, the payload carried packets of brewer's and baker's yeast. En route to the stratosphere, the microbes experienced temperatures as low as -63 C and cosmic ray doses 40x Earth-normal.

To support the students' research, Eileen Weingram bought a packet of the baker's yeast. "It made a huge loaf of bread," she says. "Very yummy."

If this story whets your appetite, you can have some "space bread" of your own. Packets of yeast are still available. All sales support high altitude balloon flights to measure the effect of solar storms on Earth's atmosphere.



Rocketship 80F
18601 posts
4/20/2015 10:09 am

 Very interesting!!




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