SpaceX just delivered some very strange cargo to the International Space Station. Tiny brain models, 3D heart tissue, and equipment for making artificial retinas arrived at the ISS aboard Dragon on October 15. The experiments share an ambitious goal: using the conditions of space to advance medical research that could benefit people on Earth. The brain models, called organoids, are small, three-dimensional structures grown from cells. They reproduce aspects of brain tissue, giving researchers a way to investigate disease processes and search for potential treatment targets for conditions including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and multiple sclerosis. The heart tissue models will help researchers develop methods for testing large numbers of potential medicines on future missions. Another experiment will explore manufacturing artificial retinas in microgravity, the near-weightless conditions aboard the station. Researchers are investigating how to build these structures one thin layer at a time, with the long-term goal of helping people with retinal diseases regain sight. These are research projects, so the flight itself does not establish that the technologies will become effective treatments. It gives scientists an opportunity to test them under conditions difficult to reproduce on Earth. Dragon also delivered materials for studying how a new type of glass forms in microgravity and the station’s final set of upgraded roll-out solar arrays. The spacecraft carried more than 6,300 pounds (2,860 kilograms) of food, supplies, and equipment on SpaceX’s 35th commercial resupply mission for NASA. It is expected to return research materials to Earth in November, bringing the results of some of those orbital experiments back to the scientists studying them. Learn more: “SpaceX Dragon Docks with Science, Supplies, and Roll-Out Solar Arrays.” NASA