Member Since: 8/13/2012
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IMMORTAL animal discovered
From Wikipedia:
Quote:
Turritopsis dohrnii, the immortal jellyfish, is a species of small jellyfish which is found in the Mediterranean Sea and in the waters of Japan. It is unique in that it exhibits a certain form of "immortality": it is the only known case of an animal capable of reverting completely to a sexually immature, colonial stage after having reached sexual maturity as a solitary stage.
If a T. dohrnii jellyfish is exposed to environmental stress or physical assault, or is sick or old, it can revert to the polyp stage, forming a new polyp colony.[4] It does this through the cell development process of transdifferentiation, which alters the differentiated state of the cells and transforms them into new types of cells. This process of transdifferentiation has amazing impacts on the medicinal industry as it has the capability to unlock a way of reverting back mature stem cells.
Theoretically, this process can go on indefinitely, effectively rendering the jellyfish biologically immortal
Keeping T. dohrnii in captivity is quite difficult. Currently only one scientist, Shin Kubota from Kyoto University, has managed to sustain a group of these jellyfish for a prolonged period of time. The plankton must be inspected daily to ensure that they have properly digested the Artemia cysts they are being fed.[4] Kubota reported that during a two-year period, his colony rebirthed itself 11 times.[16]
Kubota regularly appears in Japanese media to talk about his immortal jellyfish and has recorded several songs about them.
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It's CoMiNg 
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