Rachel Carlson

So how did this miso make its way into space? Well, Juana, it almost didn't. I spoke to Maggie Koblenz and Josh Evans, who published their study in the journal Ice Science this week. And Josh reminded me that, like most fermented things, have a really strong smell. And this fact almost stopped them from getting the experiment into space.

So how did this miso make its way into space? Well, Juana, it almost didn't. I spoke to Maggie Koblenz and Josh Evans, who published their study in the journal Ice Science this week. And Josh reminded me that, like most fermented things, have a really strong smell. And this fact almost stopped them from getting the experiment into space.

Yeah, it did. When it came back to Earth, it tasted nuttier than the miso from the same batch fermented on the ground. Interesting. Why do they think that happened? So they don't know for sure. It could have been like radiation. It could be microgravity. It could be a combination of all of this. But the leading hypothesis is that it was mostly temperature swings inside the space station.

Yeah, it did. When it came back to Earth, it tasted nuttier than the miso from the same batch fermented on the ground. Interesting. Why do they think that happened? So they don't know for sure. It could have been like radiation. It could be microgravity. It could be a combination of all of this. But the leading hypothesis is that it was mostly temperature swings inside the space station.

Yeah, it did. When it came back to Earth, it tasted nuttier than the miso from the same batch fermented on the ground. Interesting. Why do they think that happened? So they don't know for sure. It could have been like radiation. It could be microgravity. It could be a combination of all of this. But the leading hypothesis is that it was mostly temperature swings inside the space station.

Yeah. So this was a big mystery that perplexed researchers for a while. Like basically bats emerge from their caves like around dusk all at once. There can be hundreds, thousands or even millions of bats in a group all funneling out together. And for the most part, they don't crash into each other.

Yeah. So this was a big mystery that perplexed researchers for a while. Like basically bats emerge from their caves like around dusk all at once. There can be hundreds, thousands or even millions of bats in a group all funneling out together. And for the most part, they don't crash into each other.

Yeah. So this was a big mystery that perplexed researchers for a while. Like basically bats emerge from their caves like around dusk all at once. There can be hundreds, thousands or even millions of bats in a group all funneling out together. And for the most part, they don't crash into each other.

Yeah, lead researcher Aya Goldstein said one big innovation was tiny microphones.

Yeah, lead researcher Aya Goldstein said one big innovation was tiny microphones.

Yeah, lead researcher Aya Goldstein said one big innovation was tiny microphones.

ISS scientists used to put microphones in front of the caves to measure the sounds of bats emerging, or they would have like a few bats in captivity. But none of this really got to an individual bat's perspective while in a densely packed group.

ISS scientists used to put microphones in front of the caves to measure the sounds of bats emerging, or they would have like a few bats in captivity. But none of this really got to an individual bat's perspective while in a densely packed group.

ISS scientists used to put microphones in front of the caves to measure the sounds of bats emerging, or they would have like a few bats in captivity. But none of this really got to an individual bat's perspective while in a densely packed group.

So they found that when the bats were like very densely packed, their calls were shorter, higher pitched, lower in volume and more frequent. And all of this essentially allows a bat to hear its own call echoed back instead of disappearing in like the ruckus of other bat sounds.

So they found that when the bats were like very densely packed, their calls were shorter, higher pitched, lower in volume and more frequent. And all of this essentially allows a bat to hear its own call echoed back instead of disappearing in like the ruckus of other bat sounds.

So they found that when the bats were like very densely packed, their calls were shorter, higher pitched, lower in volume and more frequent. And all of this essentially allows a bat to hear its own call echoed back instead of disappearing in like the ruckus of other bat sounds.

Bat behavioral ecologist Rachel Page at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, who wasn't involved in this work, said that this was a major advance in the field.

Bat behavioral ecologist Rachel Page at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, who wasn't involved in this work, said that this was a major advance in the field.

Bat behavioral ecologist Rachel Page at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, who wasn't involved in this work, said that this was a major advance in the field.