Non-contact behavioral study through intelligent image analysis is becoming increasingly vital in animal neuroscience and ethology. The shift from traditional “black box” methods to more open and intelligent approaches is driven by advances in deep learning-based pose estimation and tracking. These technologies enable the extraction of key points and their temporal relationships from sequence images. Such approach is particularly crucial for investigating animal behaviors in outer space, with microgravity, high radiation, and hypomagnetic field. However, the limited image data of space animal and the lack of publicly accessible datasets with ground truth annotations have hindered the development of effective evaluation tools and methods. To address this challenge, we present the SpaceAnimal Dataset—the first multi-task, expert-validated dataset for multi-animal behavior analysis in complex scenarios, including model organisms such as Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila, and zebrafish. Additionally, this paper provides evaluation code for deep learning models, establishing benchmarks to guide future research. This dataset will advance AI technology innovation in this field, contributing to the discovery of new behavior patterns in space animals.

The Space Radiobiological Exposure Facility (SREF) is a general experimental facility at the China Space Station for scientific research in the fields of space radiation protection, space radiation biology, biotechnology, and the origin of life. The facility provides an environment with controllable temperatures for experiments with organic molecules and model organisms such as small animals, plant seeds, and microorganisms. The cultivation of small animals can be achieved in the facility with the use of microfluidic chips and images and videos of such experiments can be captured by microscopy. SREF also includes a linear energy transfer (LET) detector, neutron detectors, and a solar ultraviolet (UV) detector to measure the LET spectrum of the charged particles, energy spectrum and dose equivalent of neutrons, and fluence of solar UV radiation, respectively. The facility is reusable, and the model organisms from the first exposure experiment were recovered in orbit and returned to the ground for further study.

With the continuous advancement of manned deep-space exploration, the need for effective radiation-risk assessment and protection is increasingly urgent. There is a need to screen space radiation-sensitive Caenorhabditis elegans strains suitable for long-term microfluidic chip-based cultivation and observation in space on orbit. In the study, green fluorescently protein-labeled nematode strains carrying stress-related genes (involved in stress response, DNA-damage, germ-cell apoptosis) were selected. Nematode strains that significantly responded to Co60γ-ray radiation stimulation were screened and further domesticated using C. elegans Maintenance Medium (CeMM) liquid culture. Results indicated that under simulated γ-radiation (40 mSv), fluorescent proteins expression was significantly upregulated in TJ356 strain (marked by DAF-16) and CL2166 strain (marked by GST-4). Subsequently, single nematodes from TJ356 and CL2166-maintained in liquid medium for >30 days and successfully decontaminated-both retained radiosensitivity, exhibiting 1.27- and 2.73-fold fluorescence upregulation post-UVC irradiation (254 nm, 1400 J/m²). In CeMM, both strains reached adulthood with body lengths >500 μm and head thrashing frequencies ≥10 events/10 s, while TJ356 demonstrated more stable locomotor activity during prolonged cultivation. Average fluorescence intensity of TJ356 increased progressively with development and remained consistently above 30 arbitrary units (AU), while that of CL2166 decreased gradually but stayed above 10 AU. Multivariate evaluation identified TJ356 as the optimal radiation-sensitive strain. During the subsequent 33-day on-orbit cultivation experiment in the Chinese Space Station, the average body length of TJ356 nematodes in the flight group increased from 657.95 to 822.11 μm and showed 1.51-2.51-fold fluorescence elevation compared to ground control. The results confirm the space-environment sensitivity of TJ356 and its feasibility for long-term individual observation.

This paper describes a fully integrated microfluidic system (WormSpace μ-TAS ) for automated on-chip multi-strain culturing and multi-function imaging of C. elegans at the single-worm level on the China Space Station.

IntroductionThe space environment is mutagenic and may induce genomic and phenotypic variations. Exploring the changes in transposon activity in the rice genome under space radiation is of great significance.MethodsTo analyze the activation characteristics of Ty3-retrotransposons and genetic stability of insertion sites in rice progeny after spaceflight, seeds of Nipponbare, DN416, and DN423 were exposed on board the SJ-10 recoverable satellite for 12.5 days. The differential methylation and transcription levels of Ty3-retrotransposons in the genome of Nipponbare's F0 generation after spaceflight, as well as the genetic stability of Ty3-retrotransposon insertion sites in DN416 and DN423 from F3 to F5 generations, was analyzed.ResultsThe study found that the retrotransposons of ancient and young transposon families underwent demethylation from the tillering to heading stages of Nipponbare plants, which were F0 generation of space-exposed seeds, when the Nipponbare seeds were hit by single space high charge and energy (HZE) particles with LET ≥ 100 keV/μm. the transcription levels significantly increased in ancient transposon families (osr30, osr40, and rire10) and young transposon families (dagul, rn215-125, osr37, RLG_15, osr34, rire8, rire3, rire2, and hopi) (p ≤ 0.05) when LET > 100 keV/μm. Furthermore, the young Ty3-retrotransposons, which included the hopi, squiq, dasheng, rire2, rire3, rire8, osr34, rn_215-125, dagul, and RLG_15 families, underwent 1 to 8 transpositions in the F3 to F5 of DN416 and DN423 mutants, and some of these transposon insertion sites were stably inherited.DiscussionThe research holds great significance for understanding the activation characteristics of Ty3-retrotransposons in the rice genome induced by space radiation and the genetic characteristics of transposon insertion sites in its progeny.

The Meridian Project's sounding rocket mission uses a mass spectrometer to conduct in-situ atmospheric detection. In order to assess the influence of surface material outgassing and the attitude control jet on the spectrometer's detection, a sounding rocket platform was modeled and simulated. Using the physical field simulation software COMSOL and the Monte Carlo method, this study investigated whether the gas molecules from the two cases could enter the in-situ atmospheric mass spectrometer's sensor sampling port after colliding with the background atmosphere. The simulation results show that the influence of surface material outgassing on the in-situ atmospheric detection is very small, even under the conditions of medium solar activity and medium geomagnetic activity, while the influence of the attitude control jet on the in-situ atmospheric detection is large but can be reduced by reducing the low-altitude attitude control operation and decreasing the transmission probability. Through simulation optimization and according to engineering needs, increasing the nozzle outlet cross-sectional area, increasing the temperature of the gas used for attitude control, increasing the nozzle rotation angle, increasing the nozzle outlet angle, or increasing the nozzle center height can reduce the transmission probability. This model can simulate and analyze the influence of both surface material outgassing and attitude control jets on in-situ atmospheric detection, optimize relevant parameters, and provide new ideas for relevant work.

During space travel, radiation and microgravity are recognized to be major hazardous factors in the overall health and well-being of astronauts. Although some efforts have been made to elucidate the effects of short-term space travel on the reproductive health of astronauts and multiple  other species in a variety of in vitro and in vivo studies, it is still unclear whether space travel can cause abnormal embryonic development or if it poses any reproductive risks. Recently, Lei et al. (2020) investigated the effects of short-term spaceflight onboard the Chinese SJ-10 satellite on murine preimplantation embryonic development. In the article, the authors claimed that the developmental abnormalities after short-term spaceflight onboard the SJ-10 satellite were attributed to space radiation and that these alterations in space was equivalent to those induced by a 2 mGy dose of gamma-rays in a ground-based facility. In this commentary, we discuss the possible space environmental factors and associated mechanisms that contribute to abnormalities in early embryonic development, and the potential health risks to mammals after short-term space travel. This commentary provides new evidence and a fresh perspective on whether and how short-term space travel poses potential reproductive risks in mammals.

The mechanism of the regulation on photosynthesis after spaceflight has not been fully understood. To learn more information about this, we conducted a series of experiments of photosystem, including photosynthetic physiological characteristics (fluorescence parameters, pigment contents), gene expression and proteomic change. We want to examine the response of rice (Oryza sativaDN416), whose seeds were placed in Bio‐Radiation Box on the ShiJian‐10(SJ‐10) recoverable satellite. Our results demonstrated that the photosynthesis capacity of plants after spaceflight declined, compared to ground control plants. Specifically, Fv/Fm is significantly reduced for 7.5%. Chlorophyll content decreased in the three growth stages of rice, trefoil, tillering and mature stages. To further analyze changes under spaceflight environment, quantitative real‐time PCR technology and isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantization (iTRAQ) labeling technology were deployed. We found that the gene expression of important subunits of key enzymes and important structures had been decreased after spaceflight. As for the results of changes in proteins, we discovered that the content of proteins related to electron transport and photosynthesis key enzyme declined. Our experiments can provide reference for further research to learn more about the effects of spaceflight on photosynthesis.

Space radiation biology is one of the important parts of space biology, mainly focusing on the mechanisms of biological effects and genetic variations in organisms induced by space radiation. Space radiation biological effects cannot be described by a simple dose-effects relationship due to the complexity of space radiation environment. The diversity of space radiation induced biological mechanisms and the uncertainty of the synergetic interaction between space radiation and microgravity should be considered from the views of multidimensional and systematic ways. The system biology approaches should be used to study the relationships between the space radiation qualities and the space radiation induced biological effects, which are to find the main mechanisms and the key stressors to induce the mutagenic effects. This study investigates the space radiation qualities and the corresponding biological effects with the aid of SJ-10 satellite. The approaches of data mining and system biology are used to analyze these datasets. In the experiment, biological materials (O. sativa seeds, A. thaliana seeds and C. elegans) were located in three different bio-radiation boxes to obtain three distinct radiation environments inside the satellite. The absorbed dose, absorbed dose rate, linear energy transfer, and dose equivalent were measured with the use of active and passive radiation detectors. The biological samples irradiated by the space radiation within the satellite were harvested. After recovery of the satellite, by applying phenotypic and physiological analysis as well as system biology analysis such as genome epigenetic and proteomic scanning to biological samples. The biological changes under different radiation qualities will be analyzed and relevancy between biological effects and radiation parameters will be studied.

Space biological effects are mainly a result of space radiation particles with high linear energy transfer (LET); therefore, accurate measurement of high LET space radiation is vital. The radiation in low Earth orbits is composed mainly of high-energy galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), solar energetic particles, particles of radiation belts, the South Atlantic Anomaly, and the albedo neutrons and protons scattered from the Earth's atmosphere. CR-39 plastic nuclear track detectors sensitive to high LET are the best passive detectors to measure space radiation. The LET method that employs CR-39 can measure all the radiation LET spectra and quantities. CR-39 detectors can also record the incident directions and coordinates of GCR heavy ions that pass through both CR-39 and biosamples, and the impact parameter, the distance between the particle's incident point and the seed's spore, can then be determined. The radiation characteristics and impact parameter of GCR heavy ions are especially beneficial for in-depth research regarding space radiation biological effects. The payload returnable satellite SJ-10 provided an excellent opportunity to investigate space radiation biological effects with CR-39 detectors. The space bio-effects experiment was successfully conducted on board the SJ-10 satellite. This paper introduces space radiation in low Earth orbits and the LET method in radiation-related research and presents the results of nuclear tracks and biosamples hitting distributions of GCR heavy ions, the radiation LET spectra, and the quantities measured for the SJ-10 space mission. The SJ-10 bio-experiment indicated that radiation may produce significant bio-effects.

Cisplatin is a chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of various cancers. In this study, cisplatin-induced effects were characterized in vitro model of human liver cells (L02) using 2-DE-based proteomics. Results indicated that different cisplatin treatments primarily induced disturbances in protein synthesis and oxidative stress via differential mechanisms. Since the experimental concentrations of cisplatin described a hormesis effect in cell proliferation of L02 cells, it was expected to reveal the hormesis effects using proteomic markers. However, only confilin-1 was commonly up-regulated in three concentrations of cisplatin treatments showing a hormesis effects with a U-shape regulation. These results were highly consistent with many other toxico-proteomic studies, indicating that the toxico-proteomic responses based on dose-dependent protein responses were incongruent with the theoretically linear or hormetic concentration-effect relationship. Our findings suggested that a macroscopic hormesis phenomenon on the cell proliferation could not be reflected by proteomic responses induced by cisplatin treatments.

Cisplatin is an effective chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of various cancers, such as bladder cancer, epithelial ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, and so on. However, cisplatin can cause various side effects. In this study, the dose-responsive effects of cisplatin were investigated in an in vitro model of human liver cells (L02) using NMR-based metabolomics. The inverted U-shaped curve of cell proliferation confirmed the hormetic effects of cisplatin (from 1 nM to 1 mM) in L02 cells. However, the metabolite changes revealed both U-shaped (ethanol, lactate, aspartate, choline, etc.) and inverted U-shaped (glutamate, glutamine, 4-aminobutyrate, myo-inositol, etc.) curves induced by three typical concentrations of cisplatin which covered the inverted U-shaped curve as indicated by the cell proliferation assay. These findings suggested that a macroscopic hormesis phenomenon on the cell proliferation could be reflected by both stimulated and inhibited metabolites and corresponding metabolic pathways to cisplatin treatments. Therefore, a global analysis using metabolomics may give a broader view into the dose-response relationship than using a single endpoint at molecular levels. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.