Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Human stem cells grown in a rotating vessel to simulate microgravity are vastly different from those allowed to develop under normal conditions, a new study shows. The research raises questions about the viability of humans traveling in space without gravity for long periods of time. Australian scientists used a NASA-developed bioreactor to grow cells from a human embryonic stem cell line. These types of cells can develop into any of the body's three primary layers -- ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm, which in turn form more than the 220 types of cells found in humans. The team discovered that 64 percent of the proteins found in the stem cells grown in simulated microgravity were not in control samples. In particular, the bioreactor cells contained several proteins involved in the breakdown of bone and in the regulation of calcium, neither type of which were found in stem cells grown in regular, Earth gravity.

It doesn't make sense how things happen differently not far from where we are use to it. This could lead us to make discoveries that we haven't known before. Things like this can help us find new ways to cure certain diseases. Maybe it helps us in believing that aliens are actually out there. They could grow and live under conditions that we never though would support life.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37063832/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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