microgravity tagged posts

(a) The white ring is a ceramic helical insert on which the screw sample holder is placed. The scale bar is 10 mm. (b) The body of the growth cell is made of quartz glass (orange). Two capillaries of quartz glass with rubber stoppers (yellow) are fixed to the body with an adhesive. Tubes of elastomer (red) are attached to each capillary. After the growth cell is filled with the growth solution (light blue), the tubes are closed with metal wires (arrows). (c) Schematic illustration of the growth cell. Credit: K. Tsukamoto et al/Tohoku University

Crystal growth rate on ISS by interferometry will show the effects of microgravity. Sometimes, distance can lend a new perspective to a problem...

How the brain changes in space and ISS ways to deal with those changes. The Spaceflight Effects on Neurocognitive Performance: Extent, Longevity, and Neural Bases (NeuroMapping) study is examining changes in both brain structure and function and determining how long it takes to recover after returning from space.

In space, there is no “up” or “down.” That can mess with the human brain and affect the way people move and think in space. Previous research and first-hand reports suggest that humans have a harder time controlling physical movement and completing mental tasks in microgravity. Astronauts have experienced problems with balance and perceptual illusions – feeling as if, for example, they are switching back and forth between right-side-up and upside down.

Researchers are using ...

This image depicts filling the Cytospace experiment unit. Credit: Kayser Italia

The Cell Shape and Expression, or Cytospace, investigation examined how physical forces – incl shear stress, stiffness, surface tension, and gravity – change the relationships among these proteins, interfering with cell architecture and changing the geometric form, or shape, of the cell.

“These cytoskeleton modifications enhance reframing of the cell shape and lead to significant changes in cell function and behavior,” explains Marco Vukich, Ph.D., with Kayser Italia in Italy. Shear stress in particular is known to cause several changes that can result in cell death and that affect cell division and permeability in addition to gene expression.

In microgravity, this series of events – a change in cytoskeleton st...