Preliminary results of the Biobloc experiment on the Cosmos 782 flight: effects of cosmic rays on brine shrimp eggs and tobacco seeds.

The aim of the Biobloc experiment is to determine the biological effects of cosmic rays. Biobloc is a stack made up of biological layers and physical detectors (nuclear emulsions and plastic). Artemia eggs and tobacco seeds are used by French workers.

[Influence of cosmic radiation at high altitude on duration of the cell cycle].

Paramecia cultures placed at 3800 meter altitude, show a proliferating activity acceleration if we compared them to control cultures placed at low altitude under the same environment conditions. These results confirm the cosmic irradiation influence upon the activating effect produced by the natural ionizing radiations on living organisms.

Study of cosmic ray effects on Artemia salina eggs during the Apollo 16 and 17 flights.

We have used Artemia salina eggs, embedded in polyvinyl alcohol, to study the biological effects of heavy ions of cosmic rays. Each biological layer was sandwiched between track detectors. Hit eggs by heavy ions show a great inhibition of their developmental ability.