RP331 Forever Young

 RP331 Forever Young

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live forever? Most people consider this an impossible dream, but for one species of jellyfish, immortality is just another part of life. It's been called “the immortal jellyfish,” and it is only about five millimeters long, smaller than your fingernail.
What's special about this kind of jellyfish is that it can reverse its life cycle by changing its cells in a process called transdifferentiation. After it becomes sexually mature, it can force its cells to become those of a progressively younger version of itself. Its umbrella and tentacles are absorbed back into its body, and it sinks to the ocean floor to become an immature pod, or polyp. This polyp can then produce new jellyfish identical to the adult.
One of the benefits of reversing its life cycle is that the jellyfish can survive periods when food is scarce or conditions are dangerous. By returning to its immature stage, it can wait out these harsh conditions as a polyp and emerge again when conditions are more stable.
Though it can still be killed by other sea creatures, this remarkable ability to survive against all odds has allowed the tiny jellyfish to spread around the world. Scientists suspect that these immortal animals are being accidentally ferried around the world by long-distance cargo ships. The jellyfish get sucked into the ships and are then transported thousands of miles away from their original habitats. There are now so many in the world's oceans that some are calling it an invasion.
The species was discovered over a century ago, but its amazing ability was not noticed until fairly recently. This power to dramatically alter its cells has been of great interest to scientists who are trying to find ways to cure illnesses like cancer and heart disease. These currently incurable conditions could be eliminated by the discovery of how to change one kind of cell into another.
Although it might take a while for scientists to figure out how we humans can permanently avoid dying of old age, there is no doubt that the immortal jellyfish holds the key to immortality.