Biologist Stumbles Upon an Incredible Marine Creature That Reverses Its Age and Stays Immortal
Marine biologist Joan J. Soto-Angel realized a piece of wisdom when one day he noticed that an adult comb jelly had suddenly disappeared from his laboratory tank, clearly perplexed by its sudden disappearance. In place of her big bell-shaped body that shimmered with a blue-green glow, there was now just a baby jelly, a larva in place of the adult. After a series of experiments, Soto-Angel realized that jelly actually had a fascinating technology embedded in her body, a time-travel machine that enabled her to regenerate her body in reverse aging, as he documented in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The mysterious fish in question was a warty comb jelly, scientifically named Mnemiopsis Leidyi. The observation of researchers revealed that this jelly can manipulate its age, just like the sea-dwelling immortal jellyfish, an ancient time-travelling creature. The jelly, they noted, can revert from an adult back to its biologically juvenile state after it heals from a traumatic injury or a bout of starvation. It is “capable of undergoing reverse development after the onset of sexual reproduction,” or following a period of extreme stress, they said. It can also fuse its body with other comb jellies to survive when injured.
“This hydrozoan is currently considered the only animal able to repeatedly rejuvenate after sexual reproduction, challenging our understanding of aging and suggesting a potential for biological immortality,” the researchers noted, describing the “immortal jellyfish.” Soto-Angel conducted this research in collaboration with Pawel Burkhard, his colleague from Norway University of Bergen. The experiment involved 65 adult warty comb jellies who were isolated in tanks and left without food for 15 days. After this period, Soto-Angel and Burkhardt fed them a leaner diet once a week.
The gelatinous lobes that signify their adulthood began to be reabsorbed into the specimens’ bodies, and after several weeks, 13 of the 65 jellies had reverted to their juvenile bodies, both in physical appearance and dietary habits. Writing in a press release, Soto-Angel confessed that witnessing how these jellies slowly, subtly transitioned to a larva was like going back in time. Utterly fascinating. He and his team then placed 15 of those 65 jellies in tanks and made them go through even more extensive physical trauma for the sake of the experiment.
They surgically removed the adulthood-signifying lobes to add another stressor to measure their reactions. Out of these 15, six entirely reverted their age, all the way backwards in time, in just 15 days. This fascinating finding, Burkhardt said in the press release, will “open the door for many important discoveries.” Once biologists and scientists can grasp the molecular mechanism and the functioning of this technology that drives reverse development, they might be able to unfold greater possibilities in the realm of reverse aging.
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