Baby Rat Deaths Pose Mystery on Shuttle
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From Times Wire Reports
About half of the baby rats aboard the shuttle Columbia have unexpectedly died, mission scientists at Kennedy Space Center said. The baby rats, which were 9 days old when Columbia blasted off April 17, were test subjects for tests on how zero gravity affects the brain and nervous system. NASA officials said about half, 45 to 49, had died, apparently because their mothers were unable or unwilling to nurse them.
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