The Undying Hydra: A Freshwater Mini-Monster That Defies Aging | Deep Look

Could this tiny creature, named after a mythical multiheaded monster, hold the secret to eternal youth? Related to jellyfish and anemones, the hydra has an almost otherworldly ability to heal itself and stave off aging. SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! Please join our community on Patreon! DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. --- The hydra gets its name from the Lernaean Hydra, a monster from Greek mythology that guarded an entrance to the underworld. Chop off one of the beast’s many snake-like heads and two would grow in its place. While much less formidable in size, the real hydra does have a remarkable ability to heal from injuries. Cut a hydra in half and within a few days the bottom half will grow a new head. The severed head grows a new body. The secret to the hydra’s ability to heal and its seeming ability to not age is the abundance of stem cells that make up the hydra’s tube-shaped body column. “The reason why hydra lives so long is because it has these continually active stem cells populations which don’t seem to slow down at all,” said Celina Juliano, a molecular and cellular biologist at UC Davis. “They’re just constantly remaking all of the cells in the animal so every 20 days all of the cells are replaced with new cells.” --- What does a hydra eat? Hydra use their tentacles to ensnare swimming prey. Stinging cells in the tentacle paralyze the prey, which the tentacles then move toward the hydra’s mouth. Hydra often eat like Daphnia and other aquatic invertebrates referred to informally as water fleas. --- How do hydra reproduce? Hydra can reproduce asexually by cloning themselves. The new clone, called a bud, grows directly from the hydra’s side and eventually detaches. In addition to cloning, different species of hydra have different sexual reproduction strategies. --- How do hydra recover from injury? A large amount of the cells in a hydra’s central column are stem cells. These cells can reproduce themselves and can also differentiate into all of the different specialized cells that make up the hydra’s body. --- Find additional resources and a transcript on KQED Science: --- More great Deep Look episodes: Ever Seen a Starfish Gallop? | Deep Look This Adorable Sea Slug is a Sneaky Little Thief | Deep Look Why Jellyfish Float Like a Butterfly ― And Sting Like a Bee | Deep Look --- Shoutout! 🏆Congratulations🏆 to the following 5 fans on our Deep Look Community Tab for identifying the process this creature undergoes to regenerate lost body parts - morphallaxis! IncoherentBabbler Code Red Ganesh Kumar Sam Sam Obama Barrack --- Thank you to our Top Patreon Supporters ($10 per month)! Egg-Roll Shebastian Reyes Wild Turkey Josh Kuroda Chris B Emrick Karen Reynolds dane rosseter David Deshpande Daisuke Goto Joshua Murallon Robertson Elizabeth Ann Ditz Kelly Hong Kevin Judge Gerardo Alfaro Robert Amling Laurel Przybylski Leonhardt Wille Sonia Tanlimco El Samuels Mary Truland Shelley Pearson Cranshaw Supernovabetty Carrie Mukaida Sayantan Dasgupta Aurora Roberta K Wright monoirre Rick Wong Kristy Freeman Silvan Caitlin McDonough Misia Clive Carlos Carrasco Nathan Wright Levi Cai Nicolette Ray Blanca Vides Titania Juang Teresa Lavell Scott Faunce Cristen Rasmussen --- Follow KQED Science and Deep Look: Instagram: Twitter: --- About KQED KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, California, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, radio and web media. Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, the largest science and environment reporting unit in California. KQED Science is supported by The National Science Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Campaign 21 and the members of KQED. #hydra #morphollaxis #deeplook