Everything dies from old ageYes the older the get the bigger they get. Some believe that lobsters can't die from old age
falseEverything dies from old age
Turritopsis dohrnii is now officially known as the only immortal creature. The secret to eternal life, as it turns out, is not just living a really, really long time. It’s all about maturity, or rather, the lack of it. The immortal jellyfish (as it is better known popularly) propagate and then, faced with the normal career path of dying, they opt instead to revert to a sexually immature stage.
It turns out that once the adult form of the 4.5 mm-wide species Turritopsis dohrnii have reproduced, they don’t die but transform themselves back into their juvenile polyp state. Their tentacles retract, their bodies shrink, and they sink to the ocean floor and start the cycle all over again. Among laboratory samples, all the adult Turritopsis observed regularly undergo this change. And not just once: they can do it over and over again.
Thus, the only known way they can die is if they get consumed by another fish or if a disease strikes the jelly. However, there are still many mysteries surrounding the turritopsis dohrnii. While the process of reverting from its adult-phase to a polyp was observed several times, it hasn’t been observed yet in nature, only in laboratory environments.
What else doesn’t die?false
look at my editWhat else doesn’t die?
Although they are still susceptible to death by disease or attacks, lobsters can theoretically live forever because getting older does not raise their chance of dying.
An enzyme known as telomerase prevents the DNA in lobsters' cells from being damaged as they are replicated, scientist Simon Watt reports in The Sun.
Every time cells in living creatures die and are replaced, the ends of the strands of DNA they contain - known as telomeres - get shorter.
The gradual erosion of the DNA in cells is thought to be the root cause ageing, as the DNA eventually becomes too badly damaged to perfectly copy cells.
Telomerase prevents this DNA damage by repairing the telomeres, meaning that cells can perfectly replicate again and again.
Radiation-resistant bacterium?Everything dies from old age