Hey guys, Tara here for Dnews - with yet more reason to be terrified of the ocean and its

mysterious, creepy inhabitants.

In 1988, scientists uncovered a species of jellyfish called Turritopsis dohrnii, that

can reverse its aging process, effectively making it immortal. Researchers are now studying

it - to see how it can do this, in hopes that someday - humans will be able to do the same.

The "immortal jellyfish" - as people call it - stays alive by regenerating into a polyp—which

is its earliest stage of life—as it ages, or whenever it experiences illness or trauma.

It spends 3 days doing that, after which it eventually becomes an adult again.

This is one of the only known animals on earth capable of evading death in this manner, but

they're notoriously hard to study in captivity. To keep them alive in a laboratory environment,

they have to be continuously monitored - which is exactly what one scientist at Kyoto University

is doing.

Shin Kubota has devoted his life to studying these creatures, and has managed to keep an

entire colony of them alive in his lab - which requires intense dedication. He frequently

changes their water, feeds them tiny shrimp by hand, and the best part - "He even writes

karaoke songs about the jellyfish, which he performs wearing a jellyfish hat, after he's

done with his research for the day." He's become so famous for his quirky songs, that

he's basically become the Japanese equivalent of Bill Nye the Science Guy. He regularly

appears on national television, and his songs are available in karaoke machines all over

Japan.

Fame aside, though, his primary concern is still the immortal jellyfish. He says, "Out

of all the animals in the world, only they are able to reverse the aging process instead

of dying." And as such, it's impossible to determine their lifespan. According to him,

"They might live forever."

What's interesting is that even though the jellyfish are extremely primitive, they share

more genetic data with humans than they do with insects or worms. Which means if we can

figure out how they're able to reverse their aging process, then theoretically - that knowledge

could be applied to humans.

Naturally, some scientists are skeptical about that - but at the very least, Kubota hopes

to be able to extend our fixed lifespan by closely studying these creatures. And he says

it's only a matter of time - a few years, maybe a decade or two - before we solve the

mystery of its immortality.

And hey - if you wanna see more weird facts about animals, go check out Animalist's new

show, Best Breed Ever! It tells you everything you wanna know - and some stuff you didn't

- about your favorite types of dogs. FOR EXAMPLE: Did you know that two Pomeranians are called

a puff? And three are called a tuft? I didn't think they could get any more adorable, but

they have. There are new episodes are every Wednesday and Friday, so go check those out.

And in the meantime, if you have questions, comments, anything you wanna say about this

episode - leave em in the comments below. Otherwise, thanks for watching!