(September 16, 2013 at 2:46 pm)Beta Ray Bill Wrote: Prove that ANY lifeform on this wonderful planet has eternal life.
This Jellyfish does.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_nutricula
Quote:Turritopsis nutricula, the immortal jellyfish, is a hydrozoan whose medusa, or jellyfish, form can revert to the polyp stage after becoming sexually mature. 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.[2][3] It does this through the cell development process of transdifferentiation.
Cell transdifferentiation is when the jellyfish "alters the differentiated state of the cell and transforms it into a new cell". In this process the medusa of the immortal jellyfish is transformed into the polyps of a new polyp colony. First, the umbrella reverts itself and then the tentacles and mesoglea get resorbed. The reverted medusa then attaches itself to the substrate by the end that had been at the opposite end of the umbrella and starts giving rise to new polyps to form the new colony.
Theoretically, this process can go on indefinitely, effectively rendering the jellyfish biologically immortal
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.