My project is about researching and finding the attributes and genetics of animals who live a long life line, or are considered “Biologically Immortal.” By studying the genetics and cellular structure of these animals, we can understand and maybe apply their genetic makeup for our own knowledge and purpose. I’ll also be looking into if these species are actually immortal or if they just have a great longevity. If we are able to understand these creatures, we can possibly improve the human lifeline, or create human immortality. Furthermore, I’ll be looking into what kinds of technologies already exist which would help with this (example; CRISPR). There are some ways humans have discovered the secrets to longevity and they are used in certain societies around the world.

In my presentation I will talking about these main topics; 

• How humans already have achieved longevity/immortality 
  • How our longevity has increased and why generally
  • Why we aren’t immortal yet
  • How longevity works and its trends 
    • Why certain societies have achieved longevity more than others 
  • What traits allow longevity

• Other species considered to have Biological Immortality
  • Jellyfish – details
  • Hydra – details 
  • Lobster – details 
    • Controversies 
  • Why they aren't completely immortal 
  • Why they are considered “Biological Immortal” 
• How/if we can actually achieve immortality
  • Technologies to do that 
    • CRISPR
  • How/why these technologies may not work
    • Ethical, regulatory, safety concerns 
  • How/why these technologies may work 
  • Pros and Cons of the tech 

 

Before I look into this topic, it's important to understand the meaning and facts behind some things. One thing to understand is the term “Biological Immortality” which means that the cause/risk of death is not related to chronological aging. Biological Immortality is only related to immortality on a cellular or physical standpoint but doesn’t mean other factors cannot kill you such as disease, natural disasters, etc. Longevity is the measure of someone's lifespan or in other words, how many years they live. This means that Biological Immortality is essentially measured in longevity. 

 

Hypothesis: Biological Immortality will be achieved but likely not in the near future.

 

Research: 

 

The idea of staying young and living forever is a popular and common concept throughout human history. To an extent it's even being achieved. The rate at which people live has progressively and significantly increased over the years. In the past, due to diseases, wars, rougher lifestyles and generally bad hygiene and healthcare, people would die very early on and it was very rare for someone to reach old age. 

 

https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy 

 

Nowadays with many new advances in technology, society and the medical field, people live for much longer. Overall human longevity has significantly increased, though some societies have proven to have a greater longevity than others. Places like Okinawa, Sardinia, and Calabria are some of these types of societies and there are a number of reasons that the average population in these areas achieve longevity. Healthy aging and longevity in humans are modulated by a lucky combination of genetic and non-genetic factors.³ Both heritable and non-heritable traits play a role in longevity and not everyone is capable of achieving longevity. 

 

Tom Johnson started looking into longevity and he found that the heritability of longevity itself was 20% to 50%, meaning if your family lineage has a history of living a long life, ideally you would as well. Though it's true that heredity affects your longevity, if you don't maintain your body in a positive and healthy way, your longevity will likely be shortened. This is where the environment plays a role in longevity. It’s been proven many times that a person with a healthy lifestyle lives longer and younger. Things such as diet, fasting, less amount of pollutants in the body (smoking), cold exposure, and saunas improve longevity.⁶ Places like Okinawa, Sardinia and Calabria have certain lifestyles and diets (ex. Mediterranean diet). Even so, because of the newest technological advances, an average human being is still able to live a long. Research in personalized medicines and more also allow the human body to sustain for longer. 

 

Yet we still aren’t immortal, and perhaps not even close to immortality. The reasons actually come down to our genes. As cells multiply and divide, small bits of DNA get lost at the ends of our chromosomes. But since DNA is very important and we have to make sure we aren't losing parts of our DNA, there are shorter sections of DNA protecting the actual DNA. These are called telomeres. To compare, they are like plastic tips on a shoelace that prevent it from unraveling.⁵ Eventually though, the telomeres continue to get shortened slowly and the chromosome reaches a critical point where it cannot multiply without damaging the actual DNA. Then the cell becomes inactive or dead and this continues to happen, causing aging to happen. This entire process is called Senescence. 

 

Though this happens to most animals, there are some exceptional animals that don’t seem to biologically age. There are three specific animals that I will be talking about who are known to be actual Biologically Immortal animals. The first is the Turritopsis Dohrnii, otherwise known as the immortal jellyfish. An animal smaller than the size of a fingernail, these jellyfish can be found all over the world in oceans. They can essentially go back to an earlier stage of their lifetime as soon as they feel some sort of stress or threat to themselves. Essentially the medusa of this species changes into a small tissue and then the cells turn back to a previous stage in there life, into a polyp in 24-36 hours time. Their cells are specifically reprogrammed to regrow and revert back. This process is called transdifferentiation.⁷ 

 

 

Another animal that’s called biological immortal is the Hydria. Hydrias can be found in freshwater ponds or rivers and stay attached in one place, preying on any animal that passes their stinging tentacles. These Hydrias are unique because they don’t go through senescence like most animals, instead they regrow their stems. This is because of a certain type of genes called FoxO genes which seem to have an overabundance in their bodies. There was an experiment done and when these genes were removed from the Hydria, the Hydria began to age. There is still very little known about these genes though.² 

 

The last animal that could be considered biologically immortal, though it's controversial, are lobsters. They also don’t experience senescence like the Hydria, but can endlessly repair/protect their DNA. We know that most animals, including humans, have telomeres. Lobsters do as well but theirs are unique because they have a never-ending enzyme in their body called telomerase. These telomerase allow telomeres to continue to protect and shield the DNA. Telomerase is present in other animals too, the difference for other animals is that during the embryonic life stage, the telomerase declines and isn't sufficient for more regrowth.² The reason there is a lot of controversy as to whether lobsters should be Biologically Immortal is because these enzymes cause lobsters to continue to grow larger and larger till they physically can’t fit in there shells. For this reason they have to grow a new exoskeleton and search for a new shell many times, taking a lot of their energy. Often lobsters will die from exhaustion since they are no longer able to sufficiently maintain their bodies. 

 

In the end though, the main point is whether we can truly reach immortality and how. There are many new technologies and theories of reaching immortality. We know that the main problem for humans aging is telomeres eventually wearing down and cells start dying. There are many things we can do to delay aging by just generally living a healthy life. In fact, people who exercise daily have proven to have longer telomeres than others. These things work because they “activates longevity genes⁶ ” which increase life spans.

 

David Sinclair is a biologist and researcher and he has done a lot of research about human longevity. He performed a test where he took four different types of drugs and used mice to test how it would affect their longevity. He tested with rapamycin, metformin, resveratrol, and NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) boosters to increase human lifelines and his results were: 

• Rapamycin extend lifespans of mice by 9-14% but gave them a lower immune response 
• Metformin (a diabetes drug) has protection against cancer in some clinical studies 
• Resveratrol benefits heart health and increases mice lifespan by 20%   approximately. 
• NAD boosters like NR and NMN also increase lifespans 

 

His research continues to contribute to the research of longevity and the possibility of immortality⁶. Theories range for the future of human longevity. 

https://sinclair.hms.harvard.edu/research 

 

Futurist Ray Kurzweil believes that by the year 2045 knowledge in robots will expand so much that they will be able to help us at a cellular level and they will have the abilities to fix aging and disease problems. He calls these robots Nanobots.⁸ Though this estimation seems far-fetched, there are many other technologies that may also allow us to achieve immortality. One of the most popular uprising technologies is CRISPR which allows us to edit and modify our genetics. Currently allows scientists to modify DNA and make some physical changes from the embryo such as different eye colors, hair colors, susceptibility to diseases, etc. and is at the moment mainly used for diseases. By leveraging a natural defense system of bacteria to cut the DNA at a certain place. When the bacteria is attacked by a virus, it records and remembers the virus so that when it's attacked again it is able to kill the virus. It does this by recording the DNA of the virus in its own DNA and then uses a certain code to cut off the DNA of the virus and get rid of it. CRISPR uses the exact same process with RNA (Ribonucleic Acid). Opportunities with CRISPR currently include targeted medicines/treatments and development of new diagnostic tests, stronger crops and agricultural advances, and more advanced industrial products¹. With targeted medicines, we may be able to modify and fix telomeres and reduce diseases or problems with aging, eventually leading to immortality. The application of CRISPR is still a controversial topic for a number of reasons. Firstly there haven’t been many tests and research done into the topic so the process is still fairly new, which means there is potential for something to go wrong. As well, CRISPR brings up many ethical concerns and regulatory concerns. 

 

Application/Future Direction: 

 

With more research about this topic we may be able to live for significantly more years than usual. The rate of deaths would decline even more and humans will slowly be able to become more resistant and increase the strength of our immune system. With even further work we also may be able to reach Biologically immortality. With the use of technologies like CRISPR, we can cure high level diseases such as Alzhimers, which actually appears usually during old age. Not only humans, but with further research there is the possibility of extending the lifeline of any species. As well as the future benefits of this, we may be able to understand the past and how these creatures were able to adapt to the quickly changing ecosystems on Earth and if they still have a healthy population due to climate change.

 

Conclusion: 

 

In conclusion, based on my research, my hypothesis stands. Though it’s difficult to estimate when Biological Immortality will completely be achieved, there is a likelihood that this will happen eventually. The process of longevity, to some extent, is already underway. From my research, I conclude that;

 

• Humans already have achieved longevity/immortality by:
  • Our longevity has increased because of more knowledge
  • We aren’t immortal yet because of how our body was made and the way telomeres are used to protect our DNA
  • We can still affect our longevity based on our lifestyle
    • Certain societies are an example of this
  • Certain traits allow longevity as well 

• “Longevity in humans is modulated by a lucky combination of genetic and non-genetic factors.³” 

 

• Other species have Biological Immortality such as:
  • Jellyfish – because of transdifferentiation 
  • Hydra – because of FoxO genes 
  • Lobster – because of telomeres extension enzymes 
    • Lobsters aren’t actually the best immortal animals 
  • These animals also aren’t completely immortal 

 

• How/if we can actually achieve immortality with the following:
  • Technologies/experiments 
    • CRISPR
    • Drugs and medicines 
  • How/why these technologies may not work 
    • Ethical, regulatory, safety concerns 
  • How/why these technologies may work 

 

Citations: 

 

Works Cited

“The animals that can live forever - Curious.” Australian Academy of Science, 6 September 2018, https://www.science.org.au/curious/earth-environment/animals-can-live-forever. Accessed 13 March 2024.

“The Impact of CRISPR-Cas9 on Age-related Disorders: From Pathology to Therapy.” NCBI, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7390517/. Accessed 13 March 2024.

“Life Expectancy.” Our World in Data, https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy. Accessed 13 March 2024.

“Lobsters Are Not Immortal but the Myth That They Are Seems to Be.” McGill University, 6 July 2022, https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/student-contributors-did-you-know/lobsters-are-not-immortal-myth-they-are-seems-be. Accessed 13 March 2024.

“Long live FOXO: unraveling the role of FOXO proteins in aging and longevity.” NCBI, 8 December 2015, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4783344/. Accessed 13 March 2024.

Newcomb, Tim. “Humans Will Achieve Immortality by 2030: Ray Kurzweil Prediction.” Popular Mechanics, 13 March 2023, https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a43297321/humans-will-achieve-immortality-by-2030/. Accessed 13 March 2024.

Osterloff, Emily. “Immortal jellyfish: the secret to cheating death.” Natural History Museum, https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/immortal-jellyfish-secret-to-cheating-death.html. Accessed 13 March 2024.

Passarino, Giuseppe, and Alberto Montesanto. “Human longevity: Genetics or Lifestyle? It takes two to tango - Immunity & Ageing.” Immunity & Ageing, 5 April 2016, https://immunityageing.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12979-016-0066-z. Accessed 13 March 2024.

Rose, Stephen. “Reviewing David Sinclair's First Lifespan Book.” Lifespan.io, 20 February 2023, https://www.lifespan.io/news/reviewing-david-sinclairs-first-lifespan-book/. Accessed 13 March 2024.

“Science & Tech Spotlight: CRISPR Gene Editing.” Government Accountability Office, 7 April 2020, https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-478sp. Accessed 13 March 2024.

 

Numbered: 

1. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-478sp#:~:text=CRISPR%20is%20one%20type%20of,color%20or%20susceptibility%20to%20disease 
2. https://www.science.org.au/curious/earth-environment/animals-can-live-forever
3. https://immunityageing.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12979-016-0066-z
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7390517/
5. https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/student-contributors-did-you-know/lobsters-are-not-immortal-myth-they-are-seems-be 
6. https://www.lifespan.io/news/reviewing-david-sinclairs-first-lifespan-book/
7. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/immortal-jellyfish-secret-to-cheating-death.html#:~:text=It%20has%20been%20dubbed%20the,as%20a%20blob%2Dlike%20cyst
8. https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a43297321/humans-will-achieve-immortality-by-2030/

 

Other: 

9. https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy
10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4783344/

I would like to acknowledge my school and my teacher, Mrs. Wasykyshyn who helped/supported my interest in this.