This jellyfish can heal wounds “in minutes” – now scientists want to uncover its secret | BBC Discover Wildlife

At first glance, it might seem that jellyfish and humans don’t have a lot in common. But we’ve learned a lot from these marine creatures.

In 1991, NASA sent baby jellyfish into space to study human development in zero gravity, and the so-called ‘immortal jellyfish’ is being studied for the way its cells can regenerate into an earlier life stage.

But there’s another way that scientists are trying to unlock their secrets – and it’s to do with how they heal wounds.

Jocelyn Malamy (who works at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts, US) has spent the last 10 years observing how medusae of the species Clytia hemisphaerica heal wounds.

As this species is transparent, researchers can watch its cells move in real time.

And unlike with humans, no scar tissue is formed. Instead, Malamy says that “healing in the jellyfish looks more like embryonic healing, which is scar-free.”