China View – Xinhua Online (Internet / Print) 02/08/06 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-02/08/content_4151556.htm A study by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States has recruited volunteers to carry out forced bed rest, allowing doctors to study the effects of weightlessness on the human body. The bed rest recreates as closely as possible conditions which astronauts in space must endure. The studies are done at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Volunteers are under the constant supervision of doctors and other healthcare workers, and must follow strict guidelines. The volunteers' beds are tipped head-down at a slight angle of six degrees. The volunteers are not allowed out of bed even to go to the bathroom. Instead, they must use a bedpan.