Science fact - 10

Immortal Jellyfish!

Researchers have documented the first immortal animal, a jellyfish species called Turritopsis nutricula. The species has been seen to reverse its aging and revert to its its earlier polyp stage, periodically restarting its lifecycle.

Most biologists attribute aging process in humans and other animals to “telomeres”, which are tiny caps on the ends of each chromosome. Telomeres protect DNA from being corrupted and destroyed, but during every repetition of the cell cycle, they become incrementally shorter. Eventually the telomeres become so short that cells cannot divide at all, a point known as the Hayflick Limit.

All evidence suggests that Turritopsis can repeat this process indefinitely, meaning that it will never die as a consequence of aging, ever. Researchers suggested that studying the Turritopsis could lead to breakthroughs in reversing the human aging process.

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Science fact - 9

Jellyfish evaporates in sunlight as it is made of 98% water!

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Meteor Shower Hits Russia!

A meteor exploded in the sky above Russia's Urals region at about 7.25 am Moscow time. The meteor exploded above Chelyabinsk blasting out countless windows. 

The Russian Academy of Sciences said the meteor - estimated to be about 10 tons - entered the Earth's atmosphere going at least 54,000 kph (33,000 mph). It shattered about 30-50 kilometers (18-32 miles) above the ground, releasing several kilotons of energy above the Ural Mountains. Around 1000 people have been injured during the event. Chelyabinsk health chief Marina Moskvicheva, said Friday that 985 people in her city had asked for medical assistance. 

Below is the video of the meteor shower:

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Swine Flu takes its toll!

Delhi recorded the highest number of swine flu cases on Monday when the number of fresh cases reached 27. This includes the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the swine flu detection centre at RML Hospital, along with a junior doctor. The Delhi government has identified 17 government and 5 private hospitals for isolation care and treatment facilities for H1N1 cases which include Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital etc among others.

According to health authorities, throughout India, close to 495 cases and nearly 95 deaths related to swine flu have been reported since January. At present, however, officials said that only 13 cases have swine flu have been reported in Hyderabad since January.

In January, the virus claimed 62 lives while 13 have died of it in February so far, the official said. Rajasthan has recorded the highest number of swine flu deaths in the past two months. The National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune have sequenced the swine flu genetic code and the results revealed that the strain has not mutated since 2009, the time of its first attack.  Thus, the virus is still susceptible to Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) tablets.

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