As a microplate rotates, it accumulates material at its edges, forming a spiral-like shape.

ECONOMIST: Geophysics

They found that their model described the Easter microplate (just off Easter Island, in the Pacific) quite well.

ECONOMIST: Geophysics

Within that green box is a microplate reader, a workhorse appliance in labs on Earth but the first of its kind to work in the near-zero gravity at 250 miles up.

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