Immortal Jellyfish
March 25th, 2010 |
There are a few things that seem certain about life. All living things are born, go through their life cycles, get old, and die. Or do they? Actually, there is a species of jellyfish called Turritopsis nutricula which has the potential to live forever.
T. nutricula is found in all the world’s oceans, and is a 4-5 mm clear jellyfish with a bright red stomach inside. After hatching from an egg, the baby jellyfish (“hydriods”) settle on the ocean floor, as most jellyfish do, in a colony. When conditions are right, the hydroids break off and turn into the bell-shaped jellyfish we all recognize. Once it reaches maturity, the jellyfish releases eggs to form the next generation.
What makes T. nutricula unique is that it can reverse its own aging to prevent death. Any stage of its life can reverse to any previous stage, including all the way back to a hydroid colony. This makes the jellyfish “biologically immortal”, meaning that age has no effect on when the jellyfish dies. Unfortunately, the jellyfish can still be eaten and therefore die at any age, so there’s probably not any thousand-year old jellyfish around.
There are other species considered to be biologically immortal. Bristlecone pines have been shown to live for thousands of years. Tardigrades and bacterial colonies are also among the immortal animals. Some people believe that humans, with future technology, can become biologically immortal. I’ll believe it when I get my flying car.
That was certainly an intriguing piece of information on the Avro Arrow. What a shame and waste to cut them all up and destroyed. Now I learn that the Avro Arrow replicas can be viewed at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Avro Museum in Calgary and the Canadian Air and Space Museum, I’ll be looking forward to learning more about them for curiosity sake.
I couldn’t agree more. The Arrow is a gem of Canadian aerospace history and should have been put to better use, or at least preserved for posterity. We’re lucky that private citizens have taken over for the government in that regard. If I ever end up in Calgary I’ll check it out (not planning on going to Wetaskiwin, wherever that is).