Insects! We’re surrounded by them. By some accounts, insects make up more than 80% of Earth’s animals, outnumbering the combined total of all other living creatures found on Earth.

Insects have specific parts — six legs and three main body parts — the head, thorax, and abdomen. In the head you’ll find an insect’s brain, two feelers or antennae, some sort of mouth, and eyes. The thorax holds muscles that control the insect’s legs and wings. Insects breathe through tiny holes called spiracles that are found along their abdomens. Insects have two kinds of eyes, “simple” eyes with only one lens and “compound” eyes with many six-sided lenses.” They do not have an internal skeleton but are covered by an external skeleton made of a tough material called chitin that protects them.

From the description, you may not think you have much in common with insects, but scientists are studying them to learn more about human behavior. In particular, scientists are studying fruit flies. They have learned that when fruit flies do not get enough sleep, their ability to learn is reduced. Studying how fruit flies can keep their senses sharp when tired could help scientists apply the same knowledge to human beings.

Dr. Sharmila Bhatacharya is a researcher at Ames Research Center in California who studies fruit flies. She is working with the Canadian Space Agency to create an Insect Habitat that will be on the International Space Station. The habitat will provide an in-orbit laboratory for studying fruit flies. Researchers hope to learn how reduced gravity affects their development. Dr. Bhatacharya is very interested in learning more about how fruit flies keep their balance when in space. She will also study other insects, such as beetles and crickets.

"The fruit fly is interesting for gravity studies," says Dr. Bhatacharya. The fly senses and responds to gravity. Fruit flies move in the opposite direction of gravity. If you shake a jar they’re in, they’ll move upward instead of falling down to the bottom of the jar." Researchers are trying to figure out why they move upward. By understanding the fruit fly’s behavior, it could help people respond better to the lack of gravity in space."

The Insect Habitat is not very large. Several containers placed in a special drawer can hold hundreds of the insects. Adult flies are provided with the food and the environment they need to survive. The food is suspended in a type of gelatin. The fruit fly eggs stick to the surface and each generation of flies is separated for further study.

The drawers that hold the insects contain a centrifuge that spins to simulate a gravity environment. The drawers also contain special lighting to reproduce daytime and nighttime conditions. Video cameras record the development and behavior of the insects.

In the Space Technology and Research Students (STARS) program, students design and fly experiments onboard the Space Station or Space Shuttle. Students in Europe developed the carpenter bee experiment and created hypotheses about how the Space Station environment might affect the bees’ flight patterns and habits.

KSNN thanks NASAexplores as a source of information. Visit NASAexplores. For more information about this topic and additional teaching resources go to (http://www.nasaexplores.com).