In 1991, a group of scientists gathered at Blanes, a Spanish town bordering the Mediterranean Sea, for a workshop conducted by The Hydrozoan Society.
A major focus of discussion at the meeting was jellyfish, specifically a phenomenon called ontogeny reversal. Researchers, including attendee Volker Schmid, a reputed marine scientist at the University of Basel, had observed that a few jellyfish species are capable of reverse development before they reach sexual maturity: They can reactivate genetic programs specific to earlier life cycle stages.
But the workshop participants were in for a surprise: An announcement about researchers Giorgio Bavestrelloand Christian Sommer’s discovery of a species of “immortal” jellyfish quickly became the main topic of discussion.1 These sexually mature adult jellyfish could return to the juvenile state if stressed, instead of producing gametes and dying.
“That was astonishing, because this was a kind of counter evidence against the fundamental dogma of biology that lives go in one direction, from fertilization of the eggs to death,” said marine zoologist Stefano Piraino, now at the University of Salento, who attended the workshop at the time. This breakthrough was “made just by chance,” recalled Piraino.
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