Scientists have successfully levitated mice in the laboratory, in an experiment which may help research into space travel.
Using powerful magnets, the creatures were held in a zero-gravity like setting inside a tiny canister, where – after a little acclimatisation – they floated around inside their cage.
The researchers, working at various American institutes on behalf of NASA, believe the experiment will help them study the effects of space travel on human anatomy.
Similar levitation experiments have been held in the past with frogs but this is the first time an animal biologically similar to a human has been levitated.
The superconducting magnet generates a magnetic field powerful enough to levitate the water inside living animals, who then float around in their 2.6 inch-wide cage.
The researchers first levitated a young mouse, which was just three-week-old and weighed 10g.
Researcher Yuanming Liu, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said: ‘It actually kicked around and started to spin, and without friction, it could spin faster and faster, and we think that made it even more disoriented.’
After getting used to the floating sensation, the mice seemed quite content in their new zero-gravity-like container
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