Sending The 'brain' Into Space

Riding on the Tianzhou-9 cargo spacecraft, the "brain" was sent into space, turning the sci-fi scenes from "The Three Body Problem" into reality. Let's take a look at the most cutting-edge brain organ chips internationally.

Sending the 'brain' into space is a famous plot in the science fiction novel 'The Three Body Problem', but now it has become a reality. Riding on the Tianzhou-9 cargo spacecraft, a special "passenger" also embarked on a journey to the space station, which is a simulated human "brain like organ".

This transparent material the size of a credit card contains a mini 'brain' growing inside. It is a brain organ chip constructed from stem cells in our human body. Despite its small size, it contains various nerve cells, immune cells, and complex microvascular networks in the human brain.

This international cutting-edge brain organ chip developed by Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, although not a real brain, can simulate the complex microenvironment and functions of human brain.

Research has found that astronauts who stay in space stations for a long time often experience problems such as dizziness, sleep disorders, and cognitive changes, but it is still unclear how the space environment affects the brain. By bringing this organ chip that simulates the brain to the space station, scientists can use it to study the impact mechanism of the space environment on the human brain, providing new strategies and intervention methods for long-term survival and health protection in space.

Moreover, brain organoid chips can provide important support for the research of brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. As the saying goes, 'One day in the sky, one year on the earth', the space environment is like an 'aging accelerator' - various factors in the space environment accelerate the aging of cells and tissues.

Sending the "mini brain" into space, this "time compression" effect, may help scientists find aging related biomarkers, which is expected to provide a new research paradigm for the intervention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.