Time WHO?

Getting older?

This jellyfish has a solution.

Start over.

Turritopsis dohrnii is a tiny jellyfish with a

rather unusual response to aging, injury or stress.

Instead of continuing toward the end of its life, it can reverse its development.

It gets younger.

An adult jellyfish normally exists in what scientists call the medusa stage.

But when Turritopsis dohrnii begins its reversal, its tentacles disappear, its body shrinks and it settles onto a surface.

Eventually, it transforms into a polyp.

Basically, it goes from adult…

back to an earlier version of itself.

Then the polyp can produce new jellyfish, which grow into adults.

And those adults can potentially do the whole thing again.

It's the biological equivalent of reaching retirement age and deciding:

Nah.

Kindergarten.

Scientists call the process life-cycle reversal, and research suggests it involves cellular reprogramming along with genes associated with DNA repair, telomere maintenance and other processes related to aging.

Its ability to repeat this cycle has earned Turritopsis dohrnii the nickname the immortal jellyfish.

That doesn't mean nothing can kill it.

It can still become dinner.

It can still get sick.

It can still die.

But apparently, when it comes to dying of old age, this tiny jellyfish looked at the normal rules of biology and found the undo button.