Space mice surprise scientists by inventing a game in microgravity on the ISS

A group of mice participating in a NASA study on the International Space Station surprised scientists by turning weightlessness into play.

The study observed the mice as they got used to the space station's microgravity environment and to record changes in their behaviors.

The experiment was aimed at increasing our understanding of how fundamental biology works in space, with the results helping NASA prepare astronauts for long-term missions.

NASA has stated that the 37 days spent in the ISS cage by the mice, dubbed the "rodent system", would be tantamount to a long-term life-span mission. rodents.

The mice did everything they normally did in microgravity – quickly adapting to their weightlessness found by anchoring themselves to the cage with their hind limbs or their tails.

They spent their entire mission exploring the entire habitat and, at the end of the study, they weighed roughly the same weight as a group of rodents kept in group-like conditions. witness back to Earth.

Their coats were also in excellent condition.

NASA stated that both results suggest that the mice remained healthy.

The mice are launched into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 05-12-2018. Image: SpaceX

Spatial mice were also more active than their back-to-Earth counterparts and about a week after their launch, they began displaying a new "unique behavior", which scientists termed "race tracking".

Often acting in groups, the mice started running around the walls of the cage, turning the entire enclosure into a kind of orbital hamster when it turned.

Although the images seem to suggest that rodents are taking advantage of their environment, NASA explained that the behavior could be explained in different ways.

NASA Habitat Module for rodents with two open access doors. Image: NASA / Dominic Hart

It may be that physical exercise is in itself a reward for the mice or that the movement helps the body's balance system – which is usually absent in microgravity.

This could also have been a stress response – however, the researchers believe this is less likely because they were in excellent health otherwise.

"The behavior is a remarkable representation of the biology of the entire body," said April Ronca, NASA researcher. "It informs us about overall health and brain function."

NASA said that just being aware of indirect behavior would be helpful for future studies on mouse physiology in space.

Physical activity is also important for studying the effect of microgravity on bone loss – an important consideration for future manned space flight missions.