Thursday, June 23, 2016

The "Benjamin Button" Jellyfish...!

Did you know that there are some jellyfish that can reverse their aging process?

Scientist are studying the creature to see if any helpful knowledge can be gained for use by humans. I can see where growing younger instead of older might appeal to some folks, I don't think I want to sign up for this program just yet. Still, it's something interesting to find out about, right?

What Is The Secret To The Immortality Of Some Jellyfish Species?



Photo credit: Bachware /Wikimedia

The “Benjamin Button” jellyfish has an incredibly unique feature. While they normally reproduce and die in a manner you would expect, if they see serious trauma, they can reverse the aging process and start transforming themselves to a younger state of existence. This allows them to heal from injuries and survive great stress as a species and is currently making them a great threat to the world’s oceans. They are starting to crowd out parts of the oceans, making it difficult for other marine life to propagate and provide proper balance.

While scientists are skeptical that there is any answer to true immortality from jellyfish, others say we mustn’t dismiss the possibility of learning great things from them. These jellyfish can reactivate earlier programs encoded into their DNA and also switch cells to almost anything they need to be. If we could learn even a few things from how they can accomplish this, we could potentially use it to fight the spread of cancer. Unfortunately, it may be a long time before we find out if these jellyfish can provide us with that stronger anti-cancer weapon, as there is little if any research currently involved in the study of these amazing creatures.

Imagine that! Learning to live longer from a jellyfish! Pretty wild, I'd say. I got this article from Listverse, so gotta give credit where credit is due.

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Don't worry...no jellyfish around here!

7 comments:

Momlady said...

The way things are today I don't think I'd want to be like that jellyfish. And if it were possible imagine what the bad guys would be like!

Chickenmom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chickenmom said...

But does it learn from it's previous mistakes?? :o)

linda m said...

That is an interesting concept. Don't know as I would want to reverse my age at this stage in my life. The way things are going I think I'll just let myself get old.

HermitJim said...

Hey Momlady...
I don't want to be like it, either! And the bad guys...whoa!
Thanks for stopping by today!


Hey Phyllis...
If it's like humans, the answer is NO!
Thanks for coming over today!


Hey Linda...
I'm with you on that. Took me too long to get here to give it all up and start over!
Thanks for the visit this morning!

JO said...

Interesting, but I don't know about going back either.

cloudy here but still hot so now we have humidity too. coffee on the patio sounds nice

Dizzy-Dick said...

Some humans revert back to childhood when they get old. . . (grin) Wanna play hide and seek with me???