Proxy model for effects of microgravity

摘要

Recent experiments on levitating fruit flies using diamagnetism could serve as a proxy model for the effects of microgravity in space. Researchers at Nottingham University found that the levitating flies walked faster than normal - the same effect observed in earlier experiments on board the International Space Station and Shuttle. 'In the original experiments it wasn't clear whether it was microgravity that was causing these effects because they had to compare the behaviour of flies in space with a control group of flies on the ground,' Dr Richard Hill of Nottingham told The Engineer.