The immortal jellyfish

[CaptainWacky]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/m...-secret-of-immortality.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

Yet the publication of “Reversing the Life Cycle” barely registered outside the academic world. You might expect that, having learned of the existence of immortal life, man would dedicate colossal resources to learning how the immortal jellyfish performs its trick. You might expect that biotech multinationals would vie to copyright its genome; that a vast coalition of research scientists would seek to determine the mechanisms by which its cells aged in reverse; that pharmaceutical firms would try to appropriate its lessons for the purposes of human medicine; that governments would broker international accords to govern the future use of rejuvenating technology. But none of this happened.

(I read the whole thing it's fascinating.)

 

[Cassie]

I DON'T WANT TO LIVE FOREVER.

 

[Seph]

you won't i promise you :yuck:

 

[Loktar]

I DON'T WANT TO LIVE FOREVER.

you won't i promise you :yuck:

Indeed.

[YOUTUBE]sFiZLnuE1MI[/YOUTUBE]

 

[CaptainWacky]

“Watch,” he said. “I will make this medusa rejuvenate.”

The most reliable way to make the immortal jellyfish age in reverse, Kubota explained to me, is to mutilate it. With two fine metal picks, he began to perforate the medusa’s mesoglea, the gelatinous tissue that composes the bell. After Kubota poked it six times, the medusa behaved like any stabbing victim — it lay on its side and began twitching spasmodically. Its tentacles stopped undulating, and its bell slightly puckered. But Kubota, in what appeared a misdirected act of sadism, didn’t stop there. He stabbed it 50 times in all. The medusa had long since stopped moving. It lay limp, crippled, its mesoglea torn, the bell deflated. Kubota looked satisfied.

“You rejuvenate!” he yelled at the jellyfish. Then he started laughing.

Doctor Shin Kubota is my hero.