Website design By BotEap.comThe deities in religion and myth live as the only beings capable of maintaining eternal life. For the rest of existence, death is considered inevitable. Although avoidable external forces account for the majority of deaths, aging remains the only killer that is considered inescapable. Aging brings with it some positive changes, such as increased strength and mobility. However, other changes negatively affect physical and mental ability. What if scientists could discover the secret to controlling the aging process? With further investigation of particular and unusual organisms, this outlandish fantasy can become reality.

Website design By BotEap.comCertain life forms have the ability to escape aging and fight death through biological processes. The hydra, an incredibly simple multicellular organism, provides an example of such a way of life. Despite its small size, less than half an inch long, the Hydra’s strange power to regenerate tissue can prove useful to humans. “The Hydra is in a stable and constant state, and from it you can learn the basic biological principles of higher animals,” said Richard Campbell, professor and researcher of cell and developmental biology at the University of California, Irvine.

Website design By BotEap.comThe budding process, which replaces mating in these organisms, can allow Hydra, a simple polyp, to achieve immortality. With budding, a type of asexual reproduction, the offspring develop from part of the father. Thus, the Hydra got its appropriate name from the “Lernaean Hydra” of Greek mythology, a creature with many heads capable of replacing one lost head with three others in its place.

Website design By BotEap.comSimilar to the Lernaean Hydra, the Hydra does not die easily due to its regenerative ability. This process makes it similar to another organism that can prevent aging: the planarian flatworm. Both organisms can recreate large amounts of tissue from a relatively small part of the original organism.

Website design By BotEap.comThe fact that stem cells become unable to proliferate or multiply with age causes negative effects of aging in humans. The stem cells of a hydra, however, remain permanently active during the budding process, allowing it to avoid aging altogether. Research from the University of Kiel has shown that the FoxO gene enables a hydra’s stem cells to remain active throughout its life. “Surprisingly, our search for the gene that makes Hydra immortal led us to the so-called FoxO gene,” said Anna-Marei Böhm, a doctoral student at the University of Kiel.

Website design By BotEap.comInterestingly, the FoxO gene also causes aging in humans. “Our research group showed for the first time that there is a direct link between the FoxO gene and aging,” said Thomas Bosch of the University of Kiel. Because humans and Hydra share the same gene responsible for aging, Hydra could become pivotal in the future study of human anti-aging processes.

Website design By BotEap.comSurprisingly, organisms other than hydra and the planar flatworm possess immortal capabilities. A microscopic organism classified as an Extremophilic can accomplish more than simply escape death from aging. The tardigrade, more commonly known as “water bear” or “moss sucker,” has the ability to survive extreme conditions, such as severe heat that exceeds the boiling point of water at temperatures just above absolute zero. In addition to bitter temperatures, the tardigrade can survive pressures stronger than those of the deepest ocean trenches and can live 10 years without food or water. Furthermore, in 2007, the tardigrade became the first organism to survive in the vacuum of space.

Website design By BotEap.comHow can the tardigrade persevere in these circumstances? Every time a tardigrade comes into contact with these extreme conditions, it goes into a state of latency called cryptobiosis. In the study of biology, there are several different types of cryptobiotic responses. These types include anhydrobiosis, a response to lack of water; anoxybiosis, a response to lack of oxygen; chemobiosis, a response to nearby harmful toxins; cryobiosis, a response to low temperatures; and osmobiosis, a response to a large amount of solute in a solution in which an organism lives.

Website design By BotEap.comThe strange nature of the tardigrade allows it to suffer from all known types of cryptobiosis! When subjected to cryptobiosis, the tardigrade does not appear to age and can rehydrate at any time and continue to roam the earth in virtually any available habitat. Compared to Hydra, tardigrades have more traits in common with humans. In How To Find Tardigrades, Michael Shaw said, “… they are similar to us in some ways. They have a mouth, a digestive tract and they eat and excrete as we do.”

Website design By BotEap.comObviously, the techniques used by potentially immortal organisms operate differently. Investigating different organisms, therefore, can be helpful to the human race in multiple ways. For example, Hydra research could allow scientists to modify the FoxO gene to completely stop the negative effects of aging. However, tardigrade research would likely help develop ways to preserve living tissue for extended periods.

Website design By BotEap.comThe turritopsis dohrnii, nicknamed the “immortal jellyfish”, has the ability to conquer aging in a peculiar way. Basically, it can transform from an “adult” into a young jellyfish when needed. Their aging process could be described as the opposite of humans, which can be helpful in helping people maintain self-sufficiency at the end of their life. “Increasing human longevity does not make sense, it is ecological nonsense. What we can hope for and what we can work on is to improve the quality of life in our final stages,” said Stefano Piraino from the University of Salento.

Website design By BotEap.comAnother organism, the lobster, has a relatively delayed aging cycle similar to that of immortal jellyfish. Lobster immortality may seem unlikely, but lobsters actually become more functional with age. They grow by molting and become more fertile, but do not revert to a state of youth like immortal jellyfish. “These species, of course, still die. They contract diseases, are injured or hunted. But unlike humans, they do not die as a result of their own metabolisms; there does not seem to be a lifespan built into their cells,” said the biologist. Simon Watt.

Website design By BotEap.comBiological immortality also defines cells that are not affected by the “Hayflick limit”. The Hayflick limit shows the amount of cell division that will occur until cells cannot divide. HeLa cells, cancer cells from the late Henrietta Lacks, represent a famous example of cells described as biologically immortal. This example of immortality could discover new ways to make cells continually divide for life, similar to the cells of a hydra.

Website design By BotEap.comImmortality may seem like too powerful a divine power for life on earth. It turns out that evolution has produced various organisms that can carefully achieve immortality. With intensive research into these organisms, the ability to prevent the debilitating effects of aging and exacerbate its positive effects may be possible in the not too distant future.