Levente Kovács
kovilevi.bsky.social
Levente Kovács
@kovilevi.bsky.social
On my way! See you there ;)
September 24, 2025 at 12:28 PM
3. NASA has a dedicated Fly Lab platform on ISS precisely for the fruit fly research in orbit.
July 20, 2025 at 6:50 AM
2. It is estimated that about 30 space missions have included Drosophila since then, aimed at studying aging, muscle degeneration, brain function, and more in microgravity.
July 20, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Instead, a bunch of Drosophila flies crossed the Kármán line (100 km, the accepted boundary of space) aboard a German V-2 rocket captured by the USA — arguably the first peaceful use of this type of technology.
July 20, 2025 at 6:49 AM
1. Contrary to popular belief, neither a rhesus monkey nor the dog Laika (as is often taught in Eastern European schools) was the first animal in orbit.
July 20, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Although the results will be published following on-ground analyses, we can already share some fruit fly–related trivia:
July 20, 2025 at 6:48 AM
The Hungarian astronaut, Tibor Kapu, delivered fruit flies from the University of Szeged to investigate genotypes potentially resistant to DNA damage caused by cosmic background radiation.
July 20, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Oh, several points
- to integrate myself into the European Drosophila "ecosystem"
- fruitfull contacts which will host (and make use of) my students for an Erasmus, and send student to me in exchange
As for community building, for flyJEDi rituals would be good (and I hope there will be :)
June 3, 2025 at 5:32 AM