Tiangong researchers to experiment on flatworms

After zebrafish and fruit flies, China's Tiangong space station is set to host a new life form — planarians, according to Chinese scientists.

Zhang Wei, director of the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told China Youth Daily in a recent interview that an upcoming Chinese manned spaceflight will carry dozens of planarian fragments into orbit.

Planarians are flatworms renowned for their extraordinary regenerative ability. When their bodies are severed, they can regrow complete heads or tails, making them ideal models for studying tissue regeneration mechanisms, Zhang said.