Virtual reality (VR) headsets could be the key to helping astronauts overcome motion sickness when returning to Earth. When astronauts go into space, their brains get confused because they’ve never experienced gravity. On Earth, the brain expects that “down” always exists as your inner ear tells you so.

However, in microgravity (like in Earth’s orbit), that signal disappears. To this end, the brain’s expectations don’t match the new reality, and that mismatch causes space motion sickness (nausea, dizziness, disorientation) during space travel.