Using powerful magnets to levitate fruit flies can provide vital clues to how biological organisms are affected by weightless conditions in space,
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The team of scientists has shown that simulating weightlessness in fruit flies here on earth with the use of magnets causes the flies to walk more quickly the same effect observed during similar experiments on the International Space Station.
Dr Richard Hill,
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He said: "It is unfeasible to apply this technique to investigating the effects of weightlessness on a human being directly: no magnet exists that can do this. However,
AJ1 white jade jordan 1 retro, by studying the effects on ‘model’ organisms such as the fruit fly,
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"It’s also important to remember that,
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The magnetic materials that we are most familiar with are ferromagnetic materials such as iron,
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The team of scientists from Nottingham’s Schools of Physics and Astronomy and Biology used the university’s powerful superconducting magnet to produce a very strong magnetic field of around 16 Tesla approximately 350,
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Inside the superconducting solenoid magnet,
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Dr Hill added: "Crucially,
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"In orbit,
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The scientists need to be careful when using a strong magnetic field as it can have other effects on living organisms. However,
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Dr Hill said: "What we showed was that the flies in the magnet behaved in the same way that they behave in space. They walk more quickly. Why they do this, we really don’t know yet. It may be because the flies just find moving around in weightlessness easier on their joints and muscles,
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jordan 5 bel air, or it could be that it’s some kind of response to their confusion about which way is up and down when gravity is absent."
Diamagnetic levitation doesn’t balance gravity as perfectly as ‘real’ weightlessness does in space, but diamagnetic levitation can be used to see which experiments are suitable and interesting to perform in space before spending money on a space launch.
The advantage of doing these experiments on the ground is that it’s a lot cheaper and much easier,
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