Rocket due to reach the International Space Station this weekend is loaded with 7,300lb of fresh food and supplies for an orbiting lab.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is teaming up once again with NASA to conduct research, this time to determine if oral bacteria grows the same way in weightlessness as it does in the mouths of humans on Earth.

As the famous TV ad said, four out of five dentists recommend Colgate toothpaste … on Earth. But, what about in space?

SpaceX launched thousands of tiny sea creatures to the International Space Station on Thursday, along with a plaque-fighting toothpaste experiment and powerful solar panels.

Researchers from UNLV's Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering and School of Dental Medicine partnered with NASA and Colgate-Palmolive to study the growth of oral bacteria in space and see if Colgate oral care products are effective in a microgravity environment.

Colgate-Palmolive will send an oral care experiment to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SpaceX launched thousands of tiny sea creatures to the International Space Station on Thursday, along with a plaque-fighting toothpaste experiment and powerful solar panels.

UNLV researchers from the Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering and School of Dental Medicine are partnering with NASA and Colgate-Palmolive to study the growth of oral bacteria in space and to see if Colgate’s oral care products are effective in a microgravity environment.