China's space station is set to welcome a new life form, planaria, following previous experiments involving zebrafish and fruit flies, according to the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Planaria is a kind of flatworm with amazing regeneration abilities. The planarias can regrow complete heads or tails when cut, making them ideal models for studying tissue regeneration.
According to the researchers from the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, the new experiment will utilize the "small universal biological cultivation module" of the "life ecosystem experiment cabinet" aboard the space station.
Researchers will study the specific effects of the space environment on the regeneration process and physiological behavior of planaria to gain a deeper understanding of this mechanism.
Two animals, zebrafish and fruit flies, have been involved in the scientific research on China's space station.
In April 2024, a container with four zebrafish and four grams of Ceratophyllum was sent to the space station by Shenzhou-18 manned spaceship, allowing researchers to study the impact of microgravity on the proteins in the vertebrate's bones and muscles.
In last November, a batch of fruit flies arrived in China's space station aboard Tianzhou-8 cargo craft, helping researchers explore how hypomagnetic and microgravity conditions impact living organisms' genes, behaviors and reproductive capacity.
China's space station to welcome planaria for scientific research
