Long before astronauts ever plant a seed on the Moon or Mars, Nasa has been testing a much simpler question here on Earth’s doorstep: what happens when a corn seed germinates with no gravity to tell it which way to grow? Back in the early 1990s, researchers flew dry corn kernels aboard the space shuttle, … Read more
Fan built her own $200 device instead of using NASA’s $50,000 clinostat. (Society for science photo) Leanne Fan, an 18-year-old student from San Diego, has been named a finalist in the 2026 Regeneron Science Talent Search for her research into wound healing in space. Her project looks at whether red light therapy can help wounds … Read more
A small rose plant spent nine days travelling around Earth aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998. It was not there simply as a botanical curiosity. The flower, ‘Overnight Scentsation’, had been selected for an experiment that asked a surprisingly specific question: would a rose smell the same without Earth’s gravity? When the shuttle returned, the … Read more