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Article: Medicine
- Article from:
- Space Sciences
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Medicine
Traditionally, space medicine has tackled medical problems associated with the space environment. Increasingly, however, space medicine also encompasses research conducted aboard space stations and vehicles. Medical research conducted in
microgravity
is making significant contributions to the understanding of the molecular structure of living things
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a key to the development of new disease-fighting drugs. The scope of biological molecules includes proteins, polysaccharides and other carbohydrates, lipids and nucleic acids of biological origin, and those expressed in plant, animal, fungal, or bacteria systems. The precise structure of proteins and some other biologic ...