Hmm looks like we gotta work on artificial gravity if we want to successfully colonize other planets...
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/spacebabies/
Experimental mouse breeding in a near-zero-gravity space simulation suggests making babies is best left to Earthlings.
According to Japanese biologists, defects in their microgravity embryos suggest that “fertilization can occur normally” in space, but standard Earth gravity may be needed for embryo development.
clinostatThe experiment, published Tuesday in Public Library of Science ONE, is the latest addition to a surprisingly large body of literature on how the space environment affects the cellular basics of reproduction.
Among the animals that have been bred in space are frogs, salamanders, sea urchins — who didn’t do so well — and fish. (Birds and bees are, understandably if unfortunately, not on the list.)
Rather less research, however, has been done on mammalian reproduction in space, and there’s reason to think the potential effects of low gravity would be pronounced in mammals, whose embryonic development is more complicated and sensitive than other animals.
