We explore overlooked energy-exchange processes coupled to gravitational and nuclear forces, searching for new insight on the full spectrum of metabolic diseases — from diabetes to cancer.
Metabolic processes in all living organisms lose their proper order when subjected to the altered gravitational environment of space. We design experiments to reveal how disorder emerges from dynamic imbalance in states internal to molecules. Our open-source toolkit makes these dynamics computable by anyone.
We study how metabolic pathways may have coupled to Earth's spin, wobble, and orbital motion over evolutionary timescales.
Investigating why all life requires specific chiral geometry in its functional molecules — a mystery since Pasteur's discovery in 1848.
Leveraging the microgravity environment of the ISS to understand what regulates proper metabolic order on Earth.
In collaboration with biologists and space scientists at institutions worldwide, we formulate theory and spearhead experiments where the physics and biology are least understood.
Living organisms are gravitationally bound to Earth's surface and spun through major gravitational potentials at nearly Mach 88. We investigate how these repetitive, non-isotropic strains influence cellular energy exchange.
Plants aboard the International Space Station exhibited leaf movements expressing tidal periodicities of 45, 90, and 135 minutes — phenomena unexplainable by local chemical or stochastic events alone.
We search for evidence linking dynamics within molecular states to the larger acceleration cycles underlying homeostasis in cellular energy-exchange pathways.
Selected publications and presentations from our research team.
Steve Thorne presented at the 8th International Conference on Intelligent Human Systems Integration.
ConferenceA piece highlighting The Copernican Project's work on space biology.
MediaPublished in the German biophysics journal CIB. Available on PubMed Central (PMC).
Peer-ReviewedFoundational paper introducing the theoretical framework for gravitational influence on cellular processes.
Peer-ReviewedThe mystery of biological homochirality remains one of the deepest unsolved problems in science. Nearly two centuries after Pasteur's breakthrough, we are still searching for the mechanism that selects one mirror form of life over another.
Steve Thorne's presentation challenging space biology dogma — exploring whether our metabolic pathways have coupled to Earth's spin, wobble, and orbital motion.
A look at the design and rationale behind our EOTVOS 1 experiment — investigating whether jetlag recovery correlates with changes in local gravitational acceleration.
The Copernican Project is currently backed by a small group of science-minded individuals from Silicon Valley and the Weeden Foundation of New York. Our team needs help sustaining this innovative line of research and expanding its impact.
Centered in Berkeley, California, we are actively seeking collaborators on both the theoretical and experimental fronts. Your support directly enables experiments in domains where the physics and biology are least understood but have the most potential for revolutionizing the field.
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