The Tenure Turbulence

The Big Bang Theory had its first new episode in a couple of weeks.  This new episode started out with a reference to immortality.  Leonard sits down at the lunch table and brings up the topic that immortality might be real.  He says that he was reading about a “jellyfish that never dies.  Instead, it reverts to its asexual state and then it grows up again.”

This all seemed a little unrealistic, but as it turned out, it was pretty accurate.  A jellyfish known as Turritopsis dohrnii has this amazing feat While being only the size of the nail on your pinky finger, this jellyfish can cause its cell’s to basically reverse their aging process, and go back to youthful states.  When the creature’s environment or well-being is threatened (by something such as a food shortage), the jellyfish can go from its medusa, adult stage, back to its infantile polyp stage, where it can reproduce asexually.

Turritopsis dohrnii, National Geographic

This astounding feat is being studied for all its potential.  Some researchers believe that it could lead to a cancer cure/treatment.  Nevertheless, the study of this jellyfish could lead to many new discoveries.  The jellyfish was first discovered in the 1800’s, but its “immortality” characteristic was not realized until the 1990’s.

One aspect of this that I found very coincidental, is that National Geographic quoted a researcher from Penn State.  Penn State is making an impact everywhere!

Sources:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/01/090130-immortal-jellyfish-swarm_2.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/can-a-jellyfish-unlock-the-secret-of-immortality.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/29/immortal-jellyfish-lives-forever-reverts-stage-life_n_2207583.html

http://news.discovery.com/human/jellyfish-immortality-claim-121130.htm

 

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3 Responses to The Tenure Turbulence

  1. Elicia Yoffee says:

    THIS IS SO COOL! I had no idea any organism with this capability existed. I would be so interested in researching this and finding out how exactly this organism works!

  2. Nicole Bernstein says:

    For some reason, the idea of actually discovering immortality kind of scares me. If we have such population issues right now, creating a drug that allowed people to live forever would just magnify those issues.

  3. bgr5040 says:

    A jellyfish that can reverse its aging process? Sounds like a miniature, squishy, Benjamin Button!

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