Brainstorming Ideas for Experiments

Sample Specimens:

Plants (Lettuce, corn, and radishes are cheap, easy to get, and easy to grow)
Nematode Worm - C. elegans
Drosophila - Fruit Flies
Bees
Water Fleas - Daphnia
Sea Monkeys - Brine Shrimp
Ants
Spiders
Flat Worms - Planaria
Beetles
Bacteria
Yeast
Crayfish

Plants seedlings start out growing straight but once they are "treated" with hypergravity they begin to grow at an angle.

Sample questions?

1. At what level of hypergravity will your organism or system of interest be affected (Ex. At what G level will your plant grow at a different angle)?
2. What happens at different levels of hypergravity (Ex. At 1G your plant will grow upright, at 2Gês maybe it will grow at a different angle)?
3. How will your system/question of interest change when exposed to hypergravity (Ex. Some species of plants do not grow as tall when on spun on a centrifuge)?
4. How does gravitational stress affect the behavior of your organism of interest (Ex. Hyper makes Drosophila stop walking around and stay still)?
5. How does behavior change as a response to hypergravity (Ex. Fruit Flies stay still instead of walking around when the first experience hypergravity)?
6. How does your organism or system of interest recover from experiencing hypergravity (if there is a change to hypergravity)?
7. What is the recovery time when experiencing hypergravity (Ex. Fruit flies walk/fly around continuously while under normal gravity (1G), when spun on a centrifuge there is some adjustment time during which flies stay still before they start walking around again)?
8. What is the time course for recovery due to experiencing hypergravity in your organism/system of interest (how long does it take for fruit flies to start walking around under hypergravity conditions)?

Things to think about

• Does your experiment have a noticeable affect due to hypergravity?
• Make sure your experiment is hypothesis driven
• What kind of experiment can you create so that there is an observable difference in about 4 days of spinning on the centrifuge?
• You have a limited amount of centrifuge running time; think about running controls and different treatments at the same time as the experimental treatment
• Any hardware you construct must fit within the existing enclosure dimensions (see centrifuge operational characteristics)
• The weight limit for hardware you construct is 15 lbs
• 24 volts is the maximum power to each enclosure (this is what a normal wall outlet would provide you at home)
• If you need lights in the enclosures, think about what kind of lighting is necessary and about the space it will require in the enclosures (plants require different lights than other organisms)
• What kind of measurements do you need to take on board the centrifuge if you need more than video, you will need to come up with a way to measure things like temperature, humidity, sounds etc.
• How will you conduct a control experiment under normal gravity conditions in your classroom or at home?
• How will you use the centrifuge control enclosures on and off board the centrifuge in your experiment?