|  |  | | |
| |  | | | | Taking Science for a Spin
|
07.07.05
|
Thanks to a NASA contest, a group of high school students from Troy, Mich., recently got to take a piece of high-tech space-biology research equipment for a spin.
Image to right: Students from Troy High School prepare their experiment for a run in the centrifuge.
Credit: NASA
Students from Troy High School visited NASA's Ames Research Center in California after winning the agency's Hyper-G Competition. The contest challenged students from around the nation to develop experiments involving hypergravity. This involves gravity levels higher than those normally experienced on the surface of the Earth. The teams researched the topic they chose and developed hypotheses they wished to test. Teams then submitted proposals to NASA explaining how hypergravity research equipment could be used to test their hypotheses.
All of the teams that entered the contest received feedback from NASA researchers on their proposals. The winning team got something more -- the opportunity to actually test their hypothesis using NASA equipment. After the Troy High team won the contest, NASA scientists worked with them as they conducted further research on their topic at their school. The students worked with mentors at Ames throughout the whole process. Experts from the Forsyth Institute Planarian Research Center, Boston, Mass., also helped the students.
The team then traveled to Ames Research Center to test their hypothesis using the agency's 8-Foot Centrifuge. The 8-Foot Centrifuge creates artificial gravity by spinning test chambers around in an eight-foot-radius circle. It was developed to test life-sciences space biology experiments. While at Ames, the students learned more about how NASA conducts biological research. They also got to meet astronaut Janice Voss, who spoke at a reception for the team. After their visit, NASA researchers helped the students study the results.
Image to left: The students used this 8-foot centrifuge (pictured here with Ames researchers) for their experiment. Credit: NASA
The Troy team, named the "Centrifu-G's," chose to research how hypergravity affects healing. Their experiment involved the flatworm Planaria (genus Dugesia) on the centrifuge. The flatworms are capable of growing back portions of their body that become removed. The team's hypothesis was that flatworms exposed to hypergravity would regenerate more slowly. Because the flatworms have many physiological systems in common with human beings, the results could be relevant for humans as well. Understanding the relationship between gravity and healing could have other benefits, too. It may reveal more about how wounds heal in low-gravity environments, such as in space or on the Moon or Mars.
Someday, lessons like these could be important as NASA returns to the Moon and prepares to send humans to Mars. But even more important will be students like these, who will be the explorers of tomorrow.
David Hitt, NASA Educational Technology Services
|
| |
|
