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Why Scientists Just Launched Artificial Human Embryos Into Space

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If the goal is to colonize space one day, then we’ve got to step up our game on figuring out whether humans can even have babies up there in the first place. China is trying to answer that question now after becoming the first country to send artificial human embryos into space to study how microgravity and cosmic radiation affect early human development.

Live Science reports that the embryo-ish structures arrived at China’s Tiangong Space Station aboard the Tianzhou-10 cargo mission earlier this month. The spacecraft carried with it the usual bounty of astronaut goodies, like fuel, food, and equipment. The care package also included human stem cells engineered to mimic embryos during the earliest stages of development. Scientists........

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