17 replies to this topic

[Saru]

Could the secret to immortality be found within a particularly unusual species of jellyfish ?

New York Times said:

After several days he noticed that his Turritopsis dohrnii was behaving in a very peculiar manner, for which he could hypothesize no earthly explanation. Plainly speaking, it refused to die. It appeared to age in reverse, growing younger and younger.

Read more...

[Simbi Laveau]

Interesting .
I just posted a blog about a jellyfish tank I want to get ,but its moon jelly fish .
However,this reminds me of a Japanese movie.....somehow....
Tadanobu Asano is in it .
Hold on. I have to recall this now .


Here it is .Bright Future . He acclimates a poisonous jellyfish ,from salt to fresh water .
I guess I'm just thinking about how changeable they are. It may even been the same genus of jelly fish in this article  
http://en.wikipedia....i/Bright_Future

It's fiction ,but the end of the movie is pretty wild .

Edited by Simbi Laveau, 01 December 2012 - 02:10 PM.

[blind pew]

HOLY CRAP!

[la_paloma_blanca]

The curious case of benjamin jellyfish.

Edited by la_paloma_blanca, 01 December 2012 - 03:42 PM.

[me-wonders]

The last page addresses the question I had.

Quote

And their immortality is, to a certain degree, a question of semantics. “That word ‘immortal’ is distracting,” says James Carlton, the professor of marine sciences at Williams. “If by ‘immortal’ you mean passing on your genes, then yes, it’s immortal. But those are not the same cells anymore. The cells are immortal, but not necessarily the organism itself.” To complete the Benjamin Button analogy, imagine the man, after returning to a fetus, being born again. The cells would be recycled, but the old Benjamin would be gone; in his place would be a different man with a new brain, a new heart, a new body. He would be a clone.

By the way, that is a very long explanation of the jellyfish.

[pallidin]

For a perspective:

Edited by pallidin, 01 December 2012 - 07:20 PM.

[tigresslily]

This is amazing!

[HawkLord]

HA Timelord jellyfish

[Imaginarynumber1]

Quote

If you open a New York Times this weekend, you'll find a story about jellyfish and immortality splashed across the cover of the Sunday magazine.

The 6,500-word narrative is a compelling read, but a critic at the Knight Science Journalism program at MIT urges skepticism.

"...the problem with this story is that much of what is reported is highly improbable, even unbelievable," writesPaul Raeburn. "And the writing is discursive to a fault."

The author, novelist Nathaniel Rich, traveled to Japan to meet a scientist who thinks that an organism known asTurritopsis dohrnii may unlock the secret to human immortality. The tiny jellyfish does a seemingly death-defying trick: After it grows from a polyp to an adult, it reverses the cycle and turns back into a polyp.

But Raeburn points out several red flags, among them: The author contends that the Turritopsis dohrnii is unique in its ability, but then quotes an expert who says that other species do the same thing. Then, another expert is quoted as saying that while the cells are immortal, the organism itself may not be. And it's unclear whether the scientist, Shin Kubota, is clouded by the idea of spiritual immortality.

The bottom line? Here's how Raeburn sums it up:

"It's clear that Rich was seduced by the romance of the story. Kubota is indeed a fascinating character and a prime candidate for a profile. What is missing here is a proper sense of journalistic detachment and skepticism. Kubota seems like a genial fellow, and Rich clearly likes and admires him. There's nothing wrong with that, except that Rich makes the fatal mistake of swallowing everything Kubota tells him. And when Rich briefly quotes critics, he seems to suggest that they dissent only because they do not understand Kubota's work."

So far, there is one correction appended to the online version. Stay tuned. http://news.discover...aim-121130.html

Edited by Imaginarynumber1, 02 December 2012 - 07:49 AM.

[Simbi Laveau]

Imaginarynumber1, on 02 December 2012 - 07:48 AM, said:

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Are you ever not a kill joy ?

[Imaginarynumber1]

Simbi Laveau, on 02 December 2012 - 08:09 AM, said:

Are you ever not a kill joy ?

No. I don't like living in the Land of Make Believe.

[The New Richard Nixon]

Jellyfish can never been fully understood, so in my view this is still open as space. We don't know everything, he jealous that someone else claimed it first

[little_dreamer]

What happens if something eats the jellyfish?

[pallidin]

little_dreamer, on 03 December 2012 - 02:01 AM, said:

What happens if something eats the jellyfish?

Probably not a good idea. One could easily die, I suppose.
Especially if it includes their poison tenticles. Not sure about the main body though.

Besides which, ingestion of long-lived species apparently does not transfer their longevity to the "eater" anyway.

[The New Richard Nixon]

yes you can eat jellyfish