Miniature heart and brain models have been sent to the International Space Station to investigate how spaceflight affects human organs and how the resulting changes could inform research into diseases on Earth.
The experiments are a collaboration between researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, NASA and aerospace company Space Tango.
The models will be exposed to the microgravity and radiation experienced during spaceflight, which can affect multiple body systems.
The team is sending up to 16 miniature hearts to investigate how they respond to electrical signals in near-zero gravity. The researchers are also sending miniature brain models, known as miBrains, which represent healthy and diseased brain tissue.
The research was reported by ABC News.