Jellyfish can heal wounds in minutes. Scientists want their secrets

wxw•6 minutes ago

> The medusa, the free-swimming form most people picture when they hear the term jellyfish, is only one stage of the animal’s life cycle.

> We tend to think of the flower—or the jellyfish—as the organism, but these are actually reproductive units.

I'll never look at jellyfish the same.

zerobees•about 1 hour ago

This is a press release from a marine research organization, so the main implication here isn't that they're doing it because it's in any way relevant to humans. They're doing it because it's a cool thing for a marine research organization to research.

Yes, it's probably not gonna help humans, unless some of your friends are gelatinous blobs with no circulatory or nervous system and with a lifespan measured in months.

karim79•about 2 hours ago

At first glance I imagined this was a magic way to heal a wound by rubbing a jellyfish on it. Skin irritation be damned, this is gonna save lives.

But no. No such joy.

UltraSane•about 3 hours ago

Don't they have the advantage of having very simple tissue?

packetlost•about 3 hours ago

They're not even technically one organism, but colonies of independent but mostly specialized organisms. I'd be willing to bet that has something to do with the articles title

andsoitis•about 2 hours ago

True jellyfish (like moon jellies, box jellyfish)are a single organism, just like you or me. Theres a single genome and one body.

Portuguese man o’ war is not a single organism at all but a siphonophore, a colony of many genetically identical but specialized individual organisms called zooids, all fused together and functionally dependent on each other.

sophrosyne42•about 1 hour ago

Whats the difference between a siphonophore and a single organism? Aren't all the organs of an organism genetically identical, specialized, fused together, and functionally dependent on each other?

timschmidt•about 2 hours ago

You're thinking of Siphonophores like the Portugese Man-o-war. The Octopus Lady has a wonderful video on them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipDpbYQdFEA

piusk•about 2 hours ago

how does this work, when they just sting

jagged-chisel•about 1 hour ago

Healing their own wounds, not ours.

14•about 2 hours ago

Nothing in the article mentioned stinging I am confused what you are asking ?

dspnc•about 2 hours ago

TL/DR: be made of jelly

Jellyfish can heal wounds in minutes. Scientists want their secrets

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