On long space journeys, health issues that may require drawing blood samples from an astronaut are bound to come up. Unfortunately, taking newly oxygenated blood from an artery (more useful than blood from veins) in a zero-gee environment is hazardous both for the patient and the sterile environment.

A new device, designed to take blood  samples from a patient's earlobe, promises to address these problems. The device is about the size of a human thumb, and collects the blood sample in such a way that no stray droplets can get loose to contaminate the spacecraft.

The device - which has not been named - has been tested successfully in microgravity by the European Space Agency during parabolic flights (flights designed to simulate weightlessless) over France. The next step will be to test it aboard the International Space Station. Simon Evetts of Thames Valley University in the U.K. suggests that it may have earth-bound applications as well.