By Mike DeNardo

PENNSAUKEN, N.J. (CBS) –  Two Pennsauken High School students sent an experiment up to the International Space Station this fall (see related story).

And now, they know the results.

Pensauken seniors Lacy Smith and Michelle Wan wanted to to compare how quickly chicken bones would decay in uric acid in microgravity, compared to on Earth.

This week, they opened the test tube they got back from space and weighed the bones.   Iturns out the space bones weighed less — confirming Lacy’s theory that the bones would decay more quickly in space.

“Things work differently in different places,” she says.  “They have different effects.”

Science teacher Peter Woodcock says this was one of eleven student experiments run aboard the International Space Station:

“A very small number of students are able to participate in this program, as well as be able to actually say that they have an experiment in space.”

The students say their experiment could possible lead to better treatments for gout.