Nasa sends bobtail squid to space

Tiny bobtail squid have been sent on a space mission to help NASA study how spaceflight affects the immune system. The 128 newly-hatched cephalopods blasted off to the International Space Station earlier this month.

Squid have similar immune systems to humans, Jamie Foster, a researcher at the University of Florida, tells Euronews.

“This project’s all about trying to understand how the effects of microgravity is impacting how beneficial microbes and animals talk to each other.”

Astronauts’ immune systems can become compromised or dysregulated, which could be dangerous when they don’t have access to medical care.