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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Petra Stock

‘When you kill it, it doesn’t die’: the jellyfish that has cracked the secret of immortality

A translucent jellyfish with a rounded bell and numerous delicate trailing tentacles against a light blue background
The Turritopsis dohrnii can survive adverse conditions such as high temperature, physical cutting, starvation and chemicals in water. Illustration: Petra Korlević/The Guardian

Immortality is generally considered the realm of the gods or science fiction, a fantasy that’s actively pursued by tech entrepreneurs in macabre experiments that include injecting “young blood”, cryopreservation, or resurrection in an AI afterlife.

But one ethereal, thimble-shaped jellyfish has already cracked the code.

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