A severed piece of sea cucumber refused to die, and what happened next could transform medicine

A severed piece of sea cucumber refused to die, and what happened next could transform medicine

From the revived corpse of Frankenstein’s monster to the disembodied hand, “Thing,” in the Addams Family, reanimated tissue is one of the most enduring images in science fiction. It turns out, that image has some basis in nature, according to the recent discovery of a mysterious creature that lives on the seafloor that scientists are calling a “real-life zombie.”

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Where’s there’s muck there’s brass:

>“Natural seawater is just about the most microbially diverse, least clean approach we could take experimentally,” she said. “Yet, that rich environment full of bacteria and all this organic matter was actually feeding them and allowing this tissue to heal and grow.”

Bubblecar said:

Where’s there’s muck there’s brass:

>“Natural seawater is just about the most microbially diverse, least clean approach we could take experimentally,” she said. “Yet, that rich environment full of bacteria and all this organic matter was actually feeding them and allowing this tissue to heal and grow.”

A lot of new science will come out of this.

Tau.Neutrino said:

Bubblecar said:

Where’s there’s muck there’s brass:

>“Natural seawater is just about the most microbially diverse, least clean approach we could take experimentally,” she said. “Yet, that rich environment full of bacteria and all this organic matter was actually feeding them and allowing this tissue to heal and grow.”

A lot of new science will come out of this.

the cells appeared to be getting nutrients by absorbing amino acids dissolved in the seawater.

😮

“We haven’t grown a new, complete sea cucumber yet, but we are seeing pretty stunning growth and diversification of cells literally years after this tissue was removed,” Sipler said. “It’s like a lizard that loses its tail. We know some lizards can grow new tails; we’re talking about whether the tail can grow a new lizard.”

Cool