Could this creature hold the key to living forever? This is the Turritopsis dohrnii, or what is more often called the immortal jellyfish. They have been floating around the oceans for millions of years and when they begin to grow old or they get hurt they have a cool little trick.
00:00Could this creature hold the key to living forever?
00:06This is the Turritopsis dhorny, or what is more often called the immortal jellyfish.
00:11They've been floating around the ocean for millions of years, and when they begin to grow old or they get hurt, they have a cool little trick.
00:17They reabsorb their tentacles and float down to the bottom of the sea, where they effectively become a baby jellyfish once again, returning to their polyp stage.
00:25Once there, they bud and produce new adult versions of themselves.
00:28Exact recreations of their previous adult form.
00:31It's a wild life cycle, and experts say it's the only creature on the entire planet that rejuvenates in this way after reproducing.
00:38But how does it work?
00:39Well, scientists are trying to figure that out, and they're already on the trail.
00:43Researchers studying the immortal jellyfish's genome have already identified at least a thousand of its genes related to DNA repair and aging.
00:51And another study back in 2019 discovered that the adult and polyp versions of the jellyfish had some cells which, while the same,
00:58function differently, which they said at the time could mean that some of their cells undergo a reprogramming of structural and functional commitment and gene expression.
01:07Or that they are sort of turned back and reset, just like a clock.
