Being able to live forever has long been one of humanity's top priorities, with scientists looking deeply into nature to find clues and techniques on how to achieve this. A specific subject of research is the "immortal jellyfish," which theoretically lives forever.
Immortal Jellyfish
According to Science Alert, the "immortal jellyfish" is believed to have been swimming in the depths of the oceans for millions of years. This sea creature gets its name due to its ability to theoretically live forever.
Some of the suggested properties of this jellyfish are the fact that it could've been drifting since well before the doom of dinosaurs, which was around 66 million years ago. Other properties of these jellyfish are that they are tiny and translucent.
Science Alert reports that although its potential to live for millions of years sounds "fictitious," it's within biology's realm of possibilities, specifically for these species. The scientific name for these species is the Turritopsis dohrnii, according to Oxford Academic, and it displays attributes that could see it live forever.
Achieving Immortality
To achieve immortality, whenever the jellyfish grows old or damaged, it reverts into a baby polo stage. This allows it to evade death as it reabsorbs its tentacles and takes the form of a blob on the ocean floor.
Once it reverts back to its young polyp stage, it can then bud and produce adult forms, with fully grown versions stmaller than a pinky nail. The matured buds and poly share identical genetics, giving it the essence of rebirth.
The immortal jellyfish also has another name, the "Benjamin Button" jellyfish, according to A-Z Animals, which takes reference from a fictional character who reverses in age. The character was created by F Scott Fitzgerald and was interestingly born an old man and died a baby.
Discovering the Jellyfish's Abilities
Although the jellyfish was discovered in 1883 by scientists, it took a century for scientists to discover its most important properties. In fact, Science Alert reports that its amazing immortal attributes were only accidentally discovered later on.
Ever since its discovery, studies have shown the abilities of immortal jellyfish colonies under lab observations. The findings point toward how it's capable of regressing into the polyp and start life again.
In two years, the immortal jellyfish's eternal life cycle happens up to ten times. As such, it was regarded as biologically immortal due to what it does after sexual reproduction, which is its ability to rejuvenate itself.
Origins of the Immortal Jellyfish
The American Museum of Natural History says that the consensus is that it's believed that these species come from the Mediterranean and are abundant in all oceans worldwide. Scientists are still trying to understand how the immortal jellyfish is capable of technically living forever.
A PNAS genomic research in 2022 studied the species further and found aging and DNA repair-related genes. No less than thousands of these genes were discovered for the immortal jellyfish.
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