An interactive research brief on how gravity affects the human skeleton.
Designed by Dr. Mohamed El-Hadedy Director, Reconfigurable Space Computing Laboratory California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
https://github.com/mealycpp/rscl-bones/raw/main/demo.mp4
(3-minute scientific walkthrough with ambient music — "The Limits of the Cosmos" by Geoff Harvey)
The video covers each peer-reviewed paper individually with animated visualizations:
- Stavnichuk 2020 — regional BMD bar chart (skull +2.2%, lumbar/pelvis −6.2%, lower limbs −5.4%, n=148 astronauts) and resorption-marker plateau curve (+113% in 11 days)
- Gabel 2022 — 17 astronaut figures showing 9 of 17 with incomplete tibia BMD recovery at 1 year
- Richter 2017 — gravity scale visualization with 0.4g threshold, predicting Mars/Moon partial gravity insufficient
- Berger 2008 + Daly 2013 — aging-equivalence curve showing 6 months ISS ≈ 7 years natural skeletal aging
- NASA HRP — countermeasure clock showing 2 hr/day exercise allocation (ARED, T2, CEVIS) and persistent BMD loss despite this
If the video doesn't load in your viewer, here's the silent GIF version (3 min loop):
Live site: https://mealycpp.github.io/rscl-bones/
A single-page interactive website that explains, with peer-reviewed sources, how microgravity and partial gravity affect bone density in humans. Features:
- The mechanism — osteoblasts vs osteoclasts, Wolff's Law
- The evidence — measured BMD changes from 148 astronauts (Stavnichuk et al. 2020)
- Across worlds — what we know (and don't) for Earth, ISS, Mars, Moon
- Live simulator — animated bone cells with osteoblast-osteoclast dynamics, mineral release particles, trabecular decay
- Bone-age estimator — translates BMD loss into "biological aging years"
- Ambient music — "The Limits of the Cosmos" by Geoff Harvey, plays on user click (browser autoplay rules) with floating volume control
- Verified sources — every number traceable to a primary peer-reviewed paper
Drop your logo.png file into the same folder as index.html. The site will pick it up automatically. If it's not present, a fallback "R" mark renders instead.
Every quantitative claim has been verified against the original published source. Where data does not exist (e.g., long-duration human bone studies in Mars or Moon gravity), the site says so explicitly rather than extrapolating.
Primary sources:
- Stavnichuk et al., npj Microgravity 6:13 (2020) — DOI: 10.1038/s41526-020-0103-2
- Gabel et al., Scientific Reports 12:9446 (2022) — DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-13461-1
- Richter et al., Frontiers in Physiology 8:583 (2017) — DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2017.00583
- Berger et al., CMAJ 178:1660 (2008) — DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.071416
- NASA Human Research Program, Astronaut Exercise documentation
- Plain HTML, CSS, vanilla JavaScript — no build step, no framework
- Tabler Icons (open source, MIT) via CDN
- Google Fonts: Space Grotesk + JetBrains Mono
- Canvas API for the live cell-simulation animation
- Pure CSS for cosmic background, nebulae, planets — no external image dependencies (besides your logo)
# Just open index.html in a browser, or serve locally:
python3 -m http.server 8000
# Then visit http://localhost:8000See DEPLOY.md.
.
├── index.html Main page
├── style.css All styling (deep space theme, nebulae, planets)
├── script.js Starfield + animated bone cell simulator + age estimator + music
├── cosmos-ambient.mp3 Background music ("The Limits of the Cosmos" by Geoff Harvey)
├── logo.png Your RSCL@CPP logo (add this file)
├── README.md This file
└── DEPLOY.md GitHub Pages deployment guide
Educational content — content and code free to use, adapt, and remix. Cite RSCL@CPP / Dr. Mohamed El-Hadedy if used in academic work.
The biological bone-age estimator is an educational analogy, not a clinical or forensic measurement. Real forensic bone-age estimation uses pubic symphysis, sternal rib, and cranial suture morphology and requires trained anthropologists.
RSCL@CPP · Reconfigurable Space Computing Laboratory · Cal Poly Pomona · 2026 Designed by Dr. Mohamed El-Hadedy