They Might Be 'Kind of Immortal', But The Immortal Jellyfish Are Not

Turritopsis dohrnii:-
Turritopsis dohrnii is now officially known as the only immortal creature.

The secret to eternal life, as it turns out, is not just living a really, really long
time. It’s all about maturity, or rather, the lack of it. The immortal jellyfish
(as it is better known popularly) propagate and then, faced with the normal
career path of dying, they opt instead to revert to a sexually immature
stage.
It turns out that once the adult form of the 4.5 mm-wide species Turritopsis
dohrnii have reproduced, they don’t die but transform themselves back into
their juvenile polyp state. Their tentacles retract, their bodies shrink, and
they sink to the ocean floor and start the cycle all over again. Among
laboratory samples, all the adult Turritopsis observed regularly undergo this
change. And not just once: they can do it over and over again.
Thus, the only known way they can die is if they get consumed by another
fish or if a disease strikes the jelly. However, there are still many mysteries
surrounding the turritopsis dohrnii. While the process of reverting from its
adult-phase to a polyp was observed several times, it hasn’t been observed
yet in nature, only in laboratory environments.
There are two distinct stages of a jellyfish’s life cycle: the polypoid stage
and the medusa stage.
It is no different to the turritopsis dohrnii, except that it can revert to its

polyp stage at any time.
In order to do this reversion, the immortal jellyfish will use tissue from the
circulatory canal system as well as the bell surface and the process used is
called transdifferentiation.
But in order to undergo this transformation, the jellyfish develops somehow

some missing cell types like sensory cells.There is insufficient data
regarding this.
Jellyfish are special in many ways. For starters, they have

neither a brain, nor a heart. They have only a single opening
through which food comes in, and waste comes out. So jellyfish
eat via their anus. Jellyfish are also the most efficient swimmers
in the oceans. They use less energy to cover a given distance
than any other ocean creature. They might be 'kind of
immortal', but the immortal jellyfish are not
impervious to all threats. They can be eaten by
bigger creatures, or get killed by being sucked
into a vent of a nuclear power plant, so they are
not un-killable.
But the 'immortality' steps in when T.
dohrnii suffers a attack, or starvation, or some
kind of environmental stress. Instead of dying,
they change firstly into a tiny blob, and then
shift back to the polyp stage within three days.
They regroup as a polyp colony sitting on a
rock. This new polyp is genetically identical to
the original jellyfish, but is packaged
differently.
No. It's kind of like a butterfly that instead of
dying changes back to a caterpillar, or an aged
chicken turning back into an egg. It's not a
blueprint for humans to use so that we could
potentially cycle indefinitely between a baby
and an aged adult, and then back to baby, and
so on—forever.
Technically it's more like 'regeneration', but it's
the closest that we have to immortality. Once
we learn how T. dohrnii does it, we could apply
this knowledge to medical science for humans.
Immortality in humans:-
Unlocking What Your Genes Can Already Do
Really, the only thing keeping you from having the lifespan of a vampire or a Highlander is an enzyme
called telomerase.
With us, there is that enzyme, telomerase, which acts like the little plastic thingy
on the end of your shoelaces for your DNA -- it keeps the ends of your DNA from
unraveling. Unfortunately, every time your cells divide, some of this is lost,
meaning you are breaking your body's ability to regenerate itself every time you
grow or heal. Medical scientists are finding ways to either rejuvenate telomerase or
prevent its loss in the first place. If they succeed, that could effectively halt or even
reverse the aging process.
Mind Uploading:-
Scientific estimates vary wildly as to how much computer hardware it would take
to mimic your brain, because the human brain stores information in a completely
different way than your computer. For instance, if you just count up the neurons,
its raw storage is only a few gigabytes, i.e., less than the thumb-size USB drive you
have at your desk, but the brain uses a flexible system that lets it store something
closer to 2.5 petabytes (that is, 2,500 terabytes) worth of information.
Nanorobots:-
Nanotech (i.e., microscopic machines and materials that can build and fix stuff) is
quickly becoming to our culture what atomic energy was to the 1950s -- a world-
changing technology that, in science fiction stories, always creates monsters. It's
easy to get carried away with what nanotech will be capable of. There will be
limitations, just as there are with any technology. But it's also hard not to get
excited.
Because these techniques aren't just theoretical. Scientists have successfully used
nanotech to repair optic nerves in blind hamsters by building a custom synthetic
molecule that, when injected, arranges itself into a nanofiber to repair the nerve.
They are working on nanorobots that would target and kill cancer cells like tiny
hunter-killers.
Cloned Parts:-
While no one reliable has ever cloned (or claimed to clone) a human, it is
scientifically plausible, and as a result, it has been suggested as a means to allow
humans to sustain their lives beyond their normal mortal sell-by date.
There are two ideas at work here. The first is the prospect of manufacturing new,
healthy, completely "you" organs to replace the crappy old parts you were born
with, or even that next-generation organ you put in 30 years ago, whenever they
start to get old. Obviously, most people die because a specific organ fails (for
Americans, the heart is the most common culprit). So being able to replace parts
like you would swap out transmissions on a car could extend life indefinitely, even
if nothing else on this list comes to fruition. And organ-farming is the less morally
ambiguous cloning method, since it simply requires cloning individual body parts.
Cybernetic Immortality:-
Homo sapiens are tool users: that, maybe more than anything, has defined the
advancement of our species. So even if we never crack the genetic aging code or
perfect the method of growing replacement livers, we can turn to our ability to
build awesome mechanical tools for immortality. It's what we do.
And we're already on our way -- with artificial hearts, replacement

limbs and artificial nerves, we are already rebuilding humans, albeit piecemeal,
into cyborgs. Put a stethoscope over the chest of former Vice President Dick
Cheney and you'll hear nothing -- instead of a heart, he has a machine that pumps
blood. If we can replace one part, we can replace another.

They Might Be 'Kind of Immortal', But The Immortal Jellyfish Are Not

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

They Might Be 'Kind of Immortal', But The Immortal Jellyfish Are Not

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

They Might Be 'Kind of Immortal', But The Immortal Jellyfish Are Not

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

What is the process of cellular regeneration in Turritopsis dohrnii?

What are some potential ways to achieve biological immortality in humans?

Turritopsis dohrnii:-

Turritopsis dohrnii is now officially known as the only immortal creature.

It is no different to the turritopsis dohrnii, except that it can revert to its

But in order to undergo this transformation, the jellyfish develops somehow

Jellyfish are special in many ways. For starters, they have

And we're already on our way -- with artificial hearts, replacement

You might also like