The creature that lives FOREVER

Imagine being able to live forever - scientists think they've found a creature that actually can!

Researchers from South Denmark University claim kind of freshwater polyp is 'effectively immortal'.

Scientists looked at ageing in 46 different species including mammals, plants, fungi and algae.

They found that humans, mammals and birds weaken with age, but other organisms such as tortoises and certain trees get stronger as they get older.

Hydra magnipapillata, a microscopic animal with a tube-like body with tentacles, a mouth and adhesive foot, may not be a pet that people can cuddle up with, but it is almost completely unaffected by the ageing process.

Researchers say that some specimens could live, under the right conditions, up to 1,400 years.

The research was published in the scientific journal, Nature.

Hydra /ˈhaɪdrə/ is a genus of small, simple, fresh-water animals that possess radial symmetry. Hydra are predatory animals belonging to the phylum Cnidariaand the class Hydrozoa. They can be found in most unpolluted fresh-water ponds, lakes, and streams in the temperate and tropical regions and can be found by gently sweeping a collecting net through weedy areas. They are multicellular organisms which are usually a few millimetres long and are best studied with a microscope. Biologists are especially interested in Hydra due to their regenerative ability; and that they appear not to age or to die of old age.

From CBBC Newsround

Daniel Martinez claimed in a 1998 article in Experimental Gerontology that Hydra are biologically immortal. This publication has been widely cited as evidence that Hydra do not senesce (do not age), and that they are proof of the existence of non-senescing organisms generally. In 2010 Preston Estep published (also in Experimental Gerontology) a letter to the editor arguing that the Martinez data support rather than refute the hypothesis that Hydra senesce.

The controversial unlimited life span of Hydra has attracted the attention of natural scientists for a long time. Research today appears to confirm Martinez' study. Hydra stem cells have a capacity for indefinite self-renewal. The transcription factor, "forkhead box O" (FoxO) has been identified as a critical driver of the continuous self-renewal of Hydra. A drastically reduced population growth resulted from FoxO down-regulation, so research findings do contribute to both a confirmation and an understanding of Hydra immortality.

While Hydra immortality is well-supported today, the implications for human aging are still controversial. There is much optimism;^[8] however, it appears that researchers still have a long way to go before they are able to understand how the results of their work might apply to the reduction or elimination of human senescence.

in Wikipedia