NASA Science

That's one big baby!

New science from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope suggests some supermassive black holes are born big, rather than forming gradually within a galaxy - possible evidence for kinds of black holes that have been theorized but never before observed.

Imagine this: You’re a doctor treating two patients with the exact medical problem. You prescribe the same medication, but each patient responds differently. One improves quickly. The other doesn’t.

Why?
Because each body is unique. Precision health is about understanding how your body – not the “average” person’s – responds to stress, illness, and treatment.

NASA is helping advance personalized medicine by studying how individual cells behave in extreme environments. In deep space, factors like radiation and microgravity reveal differences in our biology that we might not be able to see on Earth.

That’s why NASA’s AVATAR investigation on Artemis II used tiny organ chips made from each astronaut's own cells. When these chips travelled around the Moon, they may not have reacted the same way, even though they were all exposed to identical environments.

This kind of research could help future astronauts get personalized medical kits tailored to their own biology. And the same insight may also help doctors here on Earth give people treatments designed specifically for them.

Explore more: https://go.nasa.gov/4a0HZLN

Think about how much space technology has already changed everyday life … like GPS in your phone or the cameras that inspired smartphone imaging. NASA’s work in precision health could be the next big leap.

But what is precision health?

Instead of “one‑size‑fits‑all” medicine, precision health looks at how each person’s body responds differently. Space is the perfect place to study this. The extreme conditions, like microgravity and radiation, reveal differences in our cells that we might not be able to see in a regular lab.

NASA’s AVATAR experiment sent tiny “organ chips,” each personalized for an individual astronaut, around the Moon on Artemis II. Even in the same environment, each chip could react differently to space stressors.

That’s powerful information.

What we learn from studying the human body in deep space could help doctors on Earth create more personalized treatments, helping people get care tailored to their biology.

Explore more: https://go.nasa.gov/49sai5E