BEIJING, November 17 (Xinhuanet) -- We are but worms, or at least 80 percent of the human genetic material is identical to some 4,000 microscopic worms that have been deployed into space.

    The worms (Caenorhabditis elegans) were sent aboard the space shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station in order to study the effects of muscle wasting. Astronauts are particularly prone to muscle deterioration during long stays in space and it is hoped that by studying the worms a clearer idea of how to deal with the detrimental effects of low gravity environments can be overcome.

    The shuttle, which lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on Monday afternoon, will take the "wormonauts" on a 7.3 million km 11 day journey. The worms were gathered from rubbish tips near Bristol in the west of England and will be studied inside the recently installed Japanese Kibo laboratory. It is not the first time worms have been sent into space. Predecessors of the latest batch of worms made news in 2003 when they survived the Columbia space shuttle disaster. They were discovered in a protective container several weeks after the craft was destroyed during re-entry.

    Dr. Nathaniel Szewczyk, a scientist at the University of Nottingham who has worked on three previous missions, said the nematode worms will be used to study biological signals that make muscle proteins degrade. He said the worms are the perfect substitute for examining the long-term effects of weightlessness on humans.

    "We can learn things in space that we would not be able to learn on Earth," Szewczyk said. "If we can identify what causes the body to react in certain ways in space we establish new pathways for research back on Earth." The carefully selected worms will be exposed to conditions in space for four days before being frozen in preparation for the return journey. They will also be exposed to a new drug that reduces the effect of muscle degradation in cancer patients. The effect of this journey on their muscle mass, as well as the drugs, will be investigated once the worms are returned to the university's laboratories.

    (Agencies)

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