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The Quiet Conversation Between Muscle and Gravity, and What Happens When It Stops

Every muscle in the human body is, in a sense, in constant conversation with gravity, sensing load and responding accordingly to stay strong. Remove that conversation, as happens to astronauts in orbit, and the consequences unfold at a molecular level long before they become visible. New NASA-supported research is tracing exactly how that breakdown happens, using a purpose-built model that mimics weightlessness here on Earth. The surprising twist is where else this knowledge might apply

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