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Outreach Reaches Outer Space

Four students from Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School in Fitchburg, Mass., visited the lab of WHOI microbiologist Tracy Mincer (far right) in February to set up an experiment they designed to be performed by astronauts on the International Space Station. Sophomores Russell Holbert (far left) and Brittany Velez (left rear) joined their siblings, seniors Victoria Holbert (working at bench) and Miguel Velez III (behind her), on a project to determine whether bacteria decompose plastic faster in the microgravity of space than on Earth. Also on hand was the students’ science teacher and project adviser, Paula deDiego (second from right).(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)