Immortality is one cup the human race has sought to gulp of for centuries now. Since the time of the biblical Methuselah who lived for nearly a thousand years (actually 31 years short), mankind has thought of ways to stay forever young. Millions and Billions of hard currency have been pumped into this project to no avail. Guess what? Here are 4 creatures who are blessed with the ability to live forever:
1. Backward-aging Jellyfish: This is a tiny variety of jellyfish known as the Turritopsis doohmii. One trick to aging is freedom from disease and injuries. That's what exactly this creature is blessed with. Once this creature is injured, it immediately goes back to a Polyp (a younger version of itself) and continues it growth upward clearing away all the injuries and diseases. What an amazing feature !! It actually tops our list of immortal animals.
2. Regenerating Flatworm: Otherwise known as Planarian worm is an amazing organism. I guess we would have forgotten cell growth in Biology, a topic that talked about mitosis (The division of a cell nucleus in which the genome is copied and separated into two identical halves. It is normally followed by cell division). This is exactly what the planarian worm does. It sheds away the affected part of it body and move on.
3. Radiation-resistant Bacterium: I guess you know if you can resist the effect of radioactivity, then it's obvious you can resist almost everything. These organisms can also resist the effect of cold, acid, dehydration and vacuum. The most awesome fact is they can resist 1.5 millions rads of gamma ray, about 3,000 times the amount that could end an human live.
4. Tardigrade: It's actually the most indestructible specie. A member of the animal phylum Tardigrada. This organism has been sticking around for about thousands of years now. How? Cryptobiosis. A term in biology that describes a state of life, entered by some organisms, in which all metabolic activity is temporarily halted. It practically pauses action in itself at any point it chooses to. How cool is that !!!
I wish we could be all immortal like this creatures but it's obvious we all must die. Thanks you for reading.
Columnist : Edaki Aaron Odion (A_Clef)
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