 Spring is well and truly here which means hay fever and allergies are at the forefront of many people's minds but did you know that you may be able to get allergies in space? This week I'll be talking about potential allergens on the space station as well as a recent delivery of synthetic muscle and the coolest International Space Station crew member RoboNaut2. This is your space pod for April 29, 2015. Last week on the International Space Station the crew performed the micro experiment. Even in space there are microbes floating in the air around us and the micro experiment looks at whether these microbes are inhaled into astronauts lungs or settle in their skin. Previous work has shown that on surfaces or in the air of manned spacecrafts there are microbes that are similar to the ones that cause allergies here on Earth. In this experiment the crew will have to provide sputum samples, skin samples of their chest and cheek areas and take nasal swabs. Preliminary results show that the total number of microbes on the skin and in the lungs actually decreased during spaceflight but the total number of fungi present on the skin actually increased. I think this has to do with the ability of fungus to use special structures known as hyphae. Think of them as plant roots, long thin threads of cells that allow the fungus to anchor itself and I believe that this allows it to hold on in microgravity whereas other microbes might just float away. We'll have to wait for more results until we can know for sure. The recently arrived Dragon spacecraft had a special delivery for the International Space Station synthetic muscle. Synthetic muscle is a special polymer that reacts to electrical signals and is meant to simulate muscle tissue. Like a real muscle the polymer can expand and contract depending on the current applied to it. For now we are just looking at how this polymer behaves in space in response to microgravity and space radiation but it is hoped that it can be used to enhance robot dexterity in the future. This is really important because we need robots to live and explore space. Robots can tolerate a greater variety of conditions than our fragile human bodies and could be useful for example in conducting external repairs to the space station and unlike humans robots don't need to wear spacesuits. Luckily there is already a resident robot aboard the International Space Station and its name is Robonaut2. Robonaut2 was designed to initially assist crew with basic maintenance tasks freeing up crew time to perform more science. Eventually Robonaut2 will also venture outside the space station to perform basic maintenance and repair work. Robonaut has been successfully powered on multiple times and is even able to shake hands. Robonaut was given upgrades in August of 2014 and was given legs but still requires more upgrades to its upper body before it can venture outside the space station. It was last powered on on January 28th of this year to perform a leg movement test but problems with syncing its elbow joint sensors meant that the test was cut short. Robonaut has a special place in my heart as I was able to see it before it launched to the space station aboard Space Shell Discovery in 2011. I know this is super geeky but I even have a photo of Robonaut that I took myself before it launched. Anyway our channel has previously reported on Robonaut2 before it launched including interviews with the deputy project manager and the NASA robotics engineers so if you're interested in watching this video please find the link in the description. Thank you for watching and as always for relevant references and more information related to today's topics you'll find links in the description below. This is a crowd funded show and I'd love to give a huge shout out to all the patrons of tomorrow who helped contribute to make this space pod possible. If you would like more information about how you can help to crowdfund this show head over to patreon.com slash space pod. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and keep letting me know which space research topics you'd like me to talk about by leaving a comment below or via social media. This week's topic was actually suggested by Space Mike so Mike I hope you learned more about Robonaut2 in this video. My name is Lisa Stodzianowski and I'll see you next time.