Jellyfish appears to be immortal

Jellyfish appears to be immortal

www.news.com.au

A JELLYFISH may be immortal, scientists believe.

The turritopsis nutricula, a transparent 4-5mm diameter predator normally found in warm tropical waters, is the only known animal that is capable of reverting to its juvenile polyp state, the Times Online reports.

Jellyfish usually die after propagating but Turritopsis is capable of rejuvenating itself and reverting to a sexually immature stage after reaching adulthood.

(visit the link for the full news article)

A short article but still interesting. I bet that there will be some very interested scientists working on this one.

Imagine cracking the immortality factor. I can't see it happening for humans, it defies the imagination to think that it could be true some day.

Besides, who wants to live forever? It would invalidate all of the famous battle-cries in movies!

www.news.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

So,there can be only one?

(Yes,it was an ancient Highlander reference)

I couldnt resist.


[edit on 26-1-2009 by Black_Fox]

Originally posted by Black_Fox
So,there can be only one?

(Yes,it was an ancient Highlander reference)

I couldnt resist.

[edit on 26-1-2009 by Black_Fox]

Seriously, do they even have a head to chop off?

And... I'm LOLing at the idea of a Sean COnnery jellyfish.

Makes sense. I mean, usually what happens is two jellyfish reproduce sexually and produce a polyp, which reproduces asexually by budding and creates Jellyfish in the medusa (adult) stage. It doesn't really mean it's immortal, it just reverts in a cycle. It's not like the jellyfish lives forever in one stage.

I thought jellyfish were actually a colony (and no not a Connery before it's said) if they are a colony then really nothing is reverting.

reply to post by Black_Fox


This is why I love ATS, discussing jellyfish turns into Highlander references .

This is very interesting but I don't see how it will help humans. We aren't at all structured like jellyfish are we? This is just my perception, not sure if I'm correct...

[edit on 26-1-2009 by rapinbatsisaltherage]

So I suppose all of the senile super Elite will be screaming to have their DNA spliced with these jellyfish in order to live forever so they can be close to their money...forever!


I wouldn't want to be immortal but I would like to live long enough to be killed by an asteroid or some kind of a extinction level event which only happen every few millions of years or so. That would be a wild way to go.

reply to post by Now_Then


Only the class Hydrozoa is colonial, which includes Man of War and stuff.
Scyphozoa, Cubozoa, and Antozoa aren't, they're single organisms.

reply to post by rapinbatsisaltherage


Yeah it kind of wouldn't help us unless we ever reproduced asexually, which we don't. And we only have one body form, jellyfish have two (polyp and medusa).

Oxolotls, however, are sweet newt-type salamander things which are able to fully regenerate working limbs and other parts of their body. They're being used to study both cancer growth and stem cells, things that require cell regeneration. They're endangered though, and currently only live in one lake in Mexico. They're also the only salamander to stay in an immature form (gills and stuff, like a larval form for salamanders)

Originally posted by ravenshadow13
Yeah it kind of wouldn't help us unless we ever reproduced asexually, which we don't.

Given the choice between asexual reproduction and immortality vs sexual reproduction and certain death, I know which I would choose!

Here's for a shorter lifespan!

reply to post by tezzajw


This news is amazing because we have to figure there is some chance that whatever this jellyfish is doing to fully reverse the aging process that it may be transferable to humans.

Lets just say there would be no shortage of volunteers for the test despite being a genetic engineering test.

Scary and exciting because personally I would like to see humans have at least a 1,000 year lifespan. Life is too short for my taste!

reply to post by truthquest


It's not reversing the aging process, it's just shifting from one form to another, so that it can keep reproducing. It's not like it gets "younger" it goes polyp to medusa to polyp to medusa, etc.

It can't be transferrable to humans because, again, we only have one life form that is sexual, and jellyfish have a sexual and asexual form.

If humanity were given immortality, we would have to ban all forms of reproduction. The world cannot sustain the number of population living on it currently, and if we were to increase it, with no means of ever dying off, it would mean that one day we will consume every natural resource till this planet is left barren and dry.

There's no telling how many animals have gone extinct since man stepped foot on this Earth, but if we are to live forever on it, there will be no more animals, because we would eventually run out of food including meat, edible plants, then drinkable water.

Pollution would reach to the point where the air would be saturated with toxic gases, water polluted with chemicals, and rainfall would be nothing but toxic rain.

Earth was not made to sustain humanity forever which is why this type of technology should never exist for humans.

reply to post by tezzajw


Sorry Tezzajw I posted against you but have directed everyone who reads here
-------------------------
Wow I hope they can work out why.

reply to post by majestictwo


No worries, Majestic. It's the Mods' job to lock duplicate threads.

I'm guilty of creating a few duplicate threads as well, most of them get locked, as they should. Each time I tell myself to search more than just the past few threads but I always miss some now and then!!!

Imagine being reincarnated as one of those jellyfish... Does that mean that you've been dealt the ultimate reward?

I don't know...I think I know several people that are part jellyfish already. They're round and squishy Dunno if they can bud though

One last thing, Why are there so many human loathers out there? Tons of people are always saying that humans should die off due to the crimes against the planet. One thing puzzles me about that...If you hate your species so much, why not kill yourself? Because by your own definitions, you are part of the problem.

I would love to see humans live for thousands of years, Can you imagine what Einstein could have done with more time? Yes, and Hitler too, but I'm talking about not dying "natural deaths" We could totally get off this rock

reply to post by DJMessiah


Humans are a highly complex mutation. Actually all life is. If you have a system, which is capable of reproducing and adapting to just about any circumstance in the entire universe, distributing energy along the way, you can basically say goodbye to the structural integrity of the universe itself. Eventually, our population will become so large and our technology so advanced, that no obstacle could stand in our way. This is pretty much a common theme in literature throughout history. If we try hard enough there really is no limit. However, in time a gamma ray burst will wipe us all out, so don't worry about! Live while you can and enjoy every moment. It's not like the existence of life is relevant to anyone but yourself and other forms of life.

Anyway, Malthusian predictions become increasingly more redundant as we begin to understand the effects of long term capital investment, which has only really taken root in this past 20th century. As resources are depleted, demand for technologies increases, which either process resources at a more efficient rate, or replace old resources altogether. Otherwise, in a closed system we will be kept in check by depopulation, as a result of famine, political radicalization leading to armed conflict, increased criminality, and reduced health due to pollution and overcrowding. The one thing Malthus didn't predict, however, was the invention of spaceflight. When that industry finally takes hold we will have surpassed a very significant limit to human expansion. This insatiable demand for improving our quality and duration of life is what distinguishes us from animals. We do our best to ensure relative invulnerability to rampant geometric explosions in population growth.

If you're concerned about the destruction of the Earth and every other planet that we touch... well there's nothing I can say but all things end at some point or another. The way we are going, in our technological progress, and with our insatiable desire to improve our standard of living, while at the same time promoting the health of all people on the planet, not just a few, means that we will be forced to expand indefinitely. Otherwise, we could let a lot of people die and the need to go into space for more resources will become unnecessary. Then again, a lot of people die in that scenario. So that's not preferable. Either we revert to a primitive agricultural society with very basic knowledge of medicine and disease, with a static birth and death rate, and eventually go extinct due to some cosmic event, or our population grows at the expense of all planets we touch and all alien life forms we meet.

That is the price to pay for caring about the lives of all people on the planet equally. It does seem kind of cruel when you take a big step back, doesn't it? To space we go it seems.

[edit on 27-1-2009 by cognoscente]

reply to post by DJMessiah


"There's no telling how many animals have gone extinct since man stepped foot on this Earth, but if we are to live forever on it, there will be no more animals, because we would eventually run out of food including meat, edible plants, then drinkable water."

Human are more important than animals.

One human being is worth the numerical totality of every other species on this planet.

If animals and ecosystems perish so that Humans can have life, then so be it - No price in animal flesh or environment is too high that we cannot bring more humans to Life.

The good earth will provide. (I've watched earth's population double twice since I was born - people such as yourself whined about the same things you whine about now, slandering their own species when they should be complimenting it.)

Originally posted by Exuberant1
reply to post by DJMessiah

 

"There's no telling how many animals have gone extinct since man stepped foot on this Earth, but if we are to live forever on it, there will be no more animals, because we would eventually run out of food including meat, edible plants, then drinkable water."

Human are more important than animals.

One human being is worth the numerical totality of every other species on this planet.

If animals and ecosystems perish so that Humans can have life, then so be it - No price in animal flesh or environment is too high that we cannot bring more humans to Life.

The good earth will provide. (I've watched earth's population double twice since I was born - people such as yourself whined about the same things you whine about now, slandering their own species when they should be complimenting it.)

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Second verse same as the first.

[edit on 1/27/2009 by leisuredrummer]