How Jellyfish Can ‘Miraculously’ Heal Without Scars Has Long Remained a Mystery—Scientists Now Know Their Secret
A jellyfish can close a wound in real time, without stitches, scabs, or scars, a fascinating—and borderline miraculous—healing ability that has long perplexed scientists.
Now, a new study in Molecular Biology of the Cell has finally revealed the secrets behind this process, identifying two cellular structures that act in a specific sequence.
Jocelyn Malamy, an associate professor at the University of Chicago, first observed this process a decade ago at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Using transparent, dime-sized jellyfish called Clytia hemisphaerica, she watched individual cells move toward each other to close a gap in the tissue.
Now, with colleagues Maxwell Sassaman and Manjula P. Mony, she has mapped the steps of this process and explored its broader significance.
The free-swimming medusa most people picture when they hear “jellyfish” is only one phase of Clytia‘s life. It spends most of its life as a polyp colony attached to rocks, docks, or leaves, and it periodically produces medusae, much like a shrub produces flowers. While medusae live for only a few months, the polyp colonies can persist for much longer.
Clytia medusae are known for their ability to heal quickly. Small wounds close in minutes, and even larger injuries seal in under an hour, all without forming scar tissue. Malamy notes that this type of healing is similar to the scar-free repair seen in embryos.
Since Clytia are transparent, heal rapidly, and lack the immune-mediated inflammation that complicates wound healing in mammals, they serve as an excellent model organism. Scientists can watch epithelial cells close wounds in real time, without interference from scarring or immune reactions. The mechanisms uncovered in Clytia are likely relevant across many animals.
“A lot of the processes that we see in Clytia‘s wound healing are really similar to what you see in all other systems, including mammalian systems,” Malamy explains. “When you’re staring at these epithelial cells, you wouldn’t know this was a jellyfish.”
Epithelial cells form the surfaces of the body, including skin, the gut, and internal membranes, and must repair themselves after injury. Malamy previously described Clytia’s wound repair in 2017 and 2018. The new study addresses a longstanding question in epithelial wound healing: do wounds close by cells moving over the gap, or by an actin cable contracting to seal it? The findings show that both mechanisms operate in a specific sequence, with the basement membrane beneath the cells coordinating the transition between them.
The initial response involves lamellipodia, actin-rich extensions that move across the basement membrane, the protein layer beneath all epithelial tissues. These structures pull their parent cells forward to close the wound. Malamy’s team observed lamellipodia forming even in very small wounds within a single cell, a previously undocumented detail.
After the lamellipodia advance, an actomyosin cable forms and contracts after it covers the basement membrane. If damage or debris blocks the membrane, the cable closes the wound and removes debris that lamellipodia cannot cross.
For larger wounds, a third response occurs. When the gap is too wide for lamellipodia to bridge, regardless of how far the cells extend, the entire epithelial sheet lifts and migrates as a unit. Once lamellipodia from opposing edges meet, the same closing sequence resumes.
“This is a truly elegant mechanism where the system can rapidly adapt to heal all the kinds of wounds that might occur in nature,” Malamy says.
If epithelial repair mechanisms are conserved across animal evolution, as current evidence suggests, studies of jellyfish could reveal wound-healing processes that inflammation and scar formation obscure in mammals, making those processes difficult to observe directly.
Mysterious 'space balls' that washed up on an Australian beach are likely pressure vessels from a rocket, experts confirm
Six mysterious metal balls that washed up on an Australian beach this weekend are from a space launch vehicle, experts have confirmed.
On Friday, emergency services were alerted to the strange discovery of three bizarre spheres on Forrest Beach in Queensland.
A fourth was found on Saturday and two more on Sunday, prompting a 50-metre exclusion zone and urgent warnings to members of the public not to approach or touch the ‘potentially hazardous objects’.
The Australian Space Agency (ASA) has now revealed the unusual spheres are likely from a ‘foreign rocket body’ that had recently re-entered the atmosphere after being in orbit.
The objects are probably pressurised vessels used to store rocket fuel or gases and are among the most common pieces of space debris to survive re-entry, experts revealed.
‘The recovered objects appear to be pressure vessels from a space launch vehicle,’ the ASA said in a statement.
‘The Agency has identified the likely source. The objects’ location and characteristics are consistent with debris from a foreign rocket body that recently re-entered the atmosphere from orbit.
‘The Agency is continuing to engage with international authorities to formally confirm the launch vehicle and launching state. Queensland emergency responders have assessed and recovered the objects and determined them to be safe.’
On Friday, emergency services were alerted to the strange discovery of three bizarre spheres on Forrest Beach in Queensland
This prompted a 50-metre exclusion zone and urgent warnings to members of the public not to approach or touch the ‘potentially hazardous objects’
Pressure vessels on a space launch vehicle are specialised, highly engineered containers designed to hold liquid gases at extreme pressures.
Their primary functions include storing cryogenic propellants such as liquid oxygen and holding pressurant gases such as helium to feed the engines.
More than 36,000 pieces of space junk larger than 10cm are currently tracked in orbit by international agencies, while millions of smaller fragments also circle the Earth.
Most eventually burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere, but dense components such as pressure vessels can sometimes survive the fiery descent because they are designed to withstand enormous internal pressures.
Their spherical shape and thick metal walls also help them endure the extreme temperatures experienced as spacecraft plunge back through Earth's atmosphere.
Flinders University Associate Professor Alice Gorman is a space archaeologist who researches space junk and orbital debris.
She said the spherical pressure vessels were one of the most commonly discovered pieces of space junk and are nicknamed 'space balls'.
‘This is a classic example of what is known as “space balls”,’ she told ABC News. ‘Many rockets and spacecraft have liquid fuel systems that involve fuels under high pressure that are in these pressure vessels made of robust material.’
The spheres are likely pressurised vessels used to store rocket fuel or gases, and are among the most common pieces of space debris to survive re-entry
The ASA has warned that further potentially hazardous debris may be found.
‘Never touch, move, or recover suspected space debris and assume it to be hazardous — move away and contact emergency services,’ it said.
This is not the first time that mysterious objects have been spotted on Australia's shoreline.
In 2023, India confirmed that a giant metal dome that washed up on a Western Australian beach near Perth was from one of its rockets.
A spherical object similar to those discovered this weekend was also found in remote grassland in Namibia, southern Africa, in 2011.
Experts at the time said they believed it was most likely a fuel tank or bladder tank containing hydrazine - a highly volatile propellant - from an unmanned rocket.
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Ancient Roman records offer fresh evidence Jesus was a real person
Ancient writings of two Roman historians have been highlighted as some of the strongest evidence that Jesus was a real person.
The records come from Tacitus, one of Rome's most respected historians, and Flavius Josephus, a Jewish aristocrat and historian who lived just decades after Jesus' death.
Neither man was a Christian, and neither was trying to prove the claims of the New Testament.
Yet both left behind accounts that place Jesus in Judea, connect him to the origins of Christianity and link his death to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.
In one of the texts, Tacitus wrote that a man called Christus was executed during the reign of Emperor Tiberius.
In another, Josephus referred to James as 'the brother of Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah,' identifying Jesus as a real person known to his readers.
The references have drawn renewed attention as historians continue examining evidence for Jesus that exists outside the Bible.
For many scholars, the accounts represent some of the clearest non-Christian evidence that Jesus was a historical figure rather than a legend.
Ancient writings of two Roman historians have been highlighted as some of the strongest evidence that Jesus was a real person
The evidence was recently reviewed on Thursday by biblical scholar Lawrence Mykytiuk, who examined ancient Roman and Jewish sources that mention Jesus, as reported in the Biblical Archaeology Society.
Most historians already accept that Jesus was a real historical figure, with debate focusing less on whether he existed and more on the details of his life and teachings.
That is why the ancient writings of Roman historian Tacitus and Jewish historian Flavius Josephus remain so important; they provide some of the earliest non-Christian references to Jesus, placing him in first-century Judea and linking his death to Pontius Pilate.
While the New Testament remains the primary source for information about Jesus' life, many skeptics have long argued that writings produced by Christians cannot be considered independent evidence.
That is why historians often focus on references written by people outside the faith.
One of the most important comes from Tacitus, a Roman senator, historian and one of the ancient world's most respected chroniclers.
Writing around 116 AD in his work Annals, Tacitus described Emperor Nero's efforts to blame Christians for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD.
According to Tacitus, Nero targeted a group known as Christians, whose name came from a man called Christus.
The highlighted passage contains Tacitus' reference to Christians, stating that their founder, Christ, was executed during the reign of Emperor Tiberius by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate
Tacitus wrote that Christus had been executed during the reign of Emperor Tiberius by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.
The passage is significant because Tacitus was openly hostile toward Christians.
Far from promoting their beliefs, he described Christianity as a dangerous superstition and expressed contempt for its followers.
Historians argue that this makes his reference to Jesus particularly valuable because he had no reason to invent details that supported the movement.
The account independently confirms several details found in the Gospels, including that Jesus was executed under Roman authority and that his followers continued spreading his teachings after his death.
Another major source comes from Josephus, a Jewish historian born only a few years after Jesus is believed to have been crucified.
Josephus fought against Rome during the First Jewish Revolt before eventually settling in Rome under imperial protection, where he wrote extensive histories of the Jewish people.
In his work Jewish Antiquities, Josephus referred to the execution of James, a leader of the early church.
To explain which James he meant, he identified him as 'the brother of Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah.'
The reference appears almost casually in the text, but historians say that is precisely what makes it important.
Jesus is not the focus of the passage, but is mentioned only to identify another person.
The 15th-century manuscript, now housed at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, contains one of the most famous references to Jesus outside the Bible. In the highlighted passage, the Jewish historian Josephus describes Jesus as a wise man, writing: "Around this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man.
Scholars argue that such a reference would make little sense unless Jesus was already recognized as a real historical figure.
Josephus also included a longer passage describing Jesus as a wise teacher who attracted followers and performed remarkable deeds.
That section remains the subject of debate because many scholars believe later Christian scribes altered parts of the text.
However, the majority still conclude that the passage was based on an original reference to Jesus written by Josephus himself.
Taken together, the writings of Tacitus and Josephus support several key details about Jesus' life.
They indicate that he existed as a real person, was known by the name Jesus, gathered followers in Judea and was executed under Pontius Pilate.
The sources also show that his followers continued to spread his teachings long after his death and that the Christian movement had already reached Rome within a few decades.
Perhaps most strikingly, historians note that ancient critics of Christianity attacked Jesus in many ways but rarely questioned whether he existed.
Jewish and pagan writers accused him of false teaching, deception and even sorcery.
However, according to the historical record, virtually none argued that he was entirely fictional
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Stonehenge's secret SISTER: Archaeologists discover an ancient monument just three miles away that may have served as a 'prototype' for the famous stones
Archaeologists have discovered a secret sister monument to Stonehenge that might have served as a 'prototype' for the famous stones.
This ancient site is just three miles away from Stonehenge itself, located in the village of Bulford, Wiltshire.
Consisting of two wooden poles placed 400 feet (120 metres) apart, this long–lost monument might appear rather basic at first glance.
However, scientists say the poles would have formed a perfect line pointing to the rising sun during the summer solstice and the setting sun on the winter solstice.
In fact, reconstructions of the ancient sky and landscape show that the deceptively simple structure was built to align with the solstice within one degree of accuracy.
More impressively, archaeologists have dated this structure back to around 5,000 years ago.
That predates the monument we see at Stonehenge by 500 years, making this one of the very oldest examples of a structure built to align with the sun in the British Isles.
Dr Fabio Silva, an archaeologist from Stone x Sky and the Skyscape Academy, says: 'Rather than marking the beginning of a story, Stonehenge now more clearly appears to have emerged from traditions and practices with much deeper roots in this landscape.'
Archaeologists have discovered a secret sister monument to Stonehenge that might have served as a 'prototype' for the famous stones (artist's impression)
Since any wood has long since rotted away, almost nothing is left of the Bulford ritual site today besides the pits where the poles once stood.
However, these scant clues are already giving archaeologists a fascinating glimpse into Britain's ancient past.
The site of the Bulford poles was first uncovered in 2015, when archaeologists found a network of 48 pits dated to around 2950 BC.
Excavations found that these pits were filled with the remains of pottery, animal bones, flint tools, and charcoal.
It was clear that large numbers of people gathered in this area over a relatively short period of time, but archaeologists weren't sure what they were gathering for.
Now, the alignment of the poles suggests that people likely gathered by this simple monument to celebrate the solstices before more complex, permanent structures could be built.
While Stonehenge and the Bulford site have different layouts, this shows that the 'technology' of tracing the sun's alignment on the horizon existed long before the more famous structure was built.
In fact, the researchers suggest that Bulford and Stonehenge might have had an even closer connection.
The site, located in Bulford, Wiltshire, consisted of two wooden poles (illustrated in red) that were placed to align with the sun on the summer and winter solstices
Archaeologist Phil Harding (pictured) says that this earlier site would have served as a 'prototype' for Stonehenge, using the same ancient technology of tracking the sun's alignment
Phil Harding, Archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology and former host of Time Team, told the Daily Mail that some of the people who built Bulford might have been buried in the 'Aubrey Holes' at Stonehenge, where cremated remains have been found.
He said: 'Even if the people who visited Bulford are not buried at Stonehenge, there is every possibility that the people who visited Bulford may have also visited Stonehenge, and may even have been involved in the construction of Stonehenge.'
The pits at Bulford date back to almost the exact same period that the first simple earthworks were being put up at the site of Stonehenge.
Mr Harding even suggests that a similar pole structure might have been part of the earliest phases of Stonehenge, but later developments would have erased any trace of the pits.
'These people lived in a world that was controlled by the heavens, by climate, by natural circumstances,' he says.
'They cared about their world and the natural processes of the sun... this [the solstice] must have been such a major event in their lifetimes.'
This discovery also helps to solve the mystery of an extremely rare disc–shaped knife found in one of the pits.
Mr Harding found this round knife buried vertically in a pit located almost exactly on the line of the solstice.
Archaeologists found an 'exquisite' circular stone knife (pictured) in line with the poles, which could have been buried as a symbolic representation of the disc of the sun
'It's an absolutely exquisite object,' Mr Harding says.
'That is a difficult craft to exercise to that level of perfection. It's almost inconceivable that you would just throw it away.'
Now, Mr Harding says the disc could have been a symbolic reference to the disk of the sun, deliberately placed in a sort of 'viewing station' for the solstice.
Archaeologists still debate exactly what Stonehenge and similar sites, like the Bulford poles, would have been used for.
However, their alignment with the solstice is a strong indication that they had a spiritual or religious function besides simple timekeeping.
Dr Matt Leivers, Senior Research Manager at Wessex Archaeology, says: 'When we talk about the solstice, we're talking about religion. About how prehistoric peoples understood the cosmos, the world, and their place in it.
'What we see at Bulford, and later at Stonehenge, is a way of celebrating and marking the passage of time, but it's also about making sure the world keeps working as it should.'
'It's likely their way of saying to their deities, please keep us in mind, keep us warm and safe. It's a religious event. That's why it's so important'
Stonehenge is one of the most prominent prehistoric monuments in Britain. The Stonehenge that can be seen today is the final stage that was completed about 3,500 years ago.
According to the monument's website, Stonehenge was built in four stages:
First stage: The first version of Stonehenge was a large earthwork or Henge, comprising a ditch, bank and the Aubrey holes, all probably built around 3100 BC.
The Aubrey holes are round pits in the chalk, about one metre (3.3 feet) wide and deep, with steep sides and flat bottoms.
Stonehenge (pictured) is one of the most prominent prehistoric monuments in Britain
They form a circle about 86.6 metres (284 feet) in diameter.
Excavations revealed cremated human bones in some of the chalk filling, but the holes themselves were likely not made to be used as graves, but as part of a religious ceremony.
After this first stage, Stonehenge was abandoned and left untouched for more than 1,000 years.
Second stage: The second and most dramatic stage of Stonehenge started around 2150 years BC, when about 82 bluestones from the Preseli mountains in south-west Wales were transported to the site. It's thought that the stones, some of which weigh four tonnes each, were dragged on rollers and sledges to the waters at Milford Haven, where they were loaded onto rafts.
They were carried on water along the south coast of Wales and up the rivers Avon and Frome, before being dragged overland again near Warminster and Wiltshire.
The final stage of the journey was mainly by water, down the river Wylye to Salisbury, then the Salisbury Avon to west Amesbury.
The journey spanned nearly 240 miles, and once at the site, the stones were set up in the centre to form an incomplete double circle.
During the same period, the original entrance was widened and a pair of Heel Stones were erected. The nearer part of the Avenue, connecting Stonehenge with the River Avon, was built aligned with the midsummer sunrise.
Third stage: The third stage of Stonehenge, which took place about 2000 years BC, saw the arrival of the sarsen stones (a type of sandstone), which were larger than the bluestones.
They were likely brought from the Marlborough Downs (40 kilometres, or 25 miles, north of Stonehenge).
The largest of the sarsen stones transported to Stonehenge weighs 50 tonnes, and transportation by water would not have been possible, so it's suspected that they were transported using sledges and ropes.
Calculations have shown that it would have taken 500 men using leather ropes to pull one stone, with an extra 100 men needed to lay the rollers in front of the sledge.
These stones were arranged in an outer circle with a continuous run of lintels - horizontal supports.
Inside the circle, five trilithons - structures consisting of two upright stones and a third across the top as a lintel - were placed in a horseshoe arrangement, which can still be seen today.
Final stage: The fourth and final stage took place just after 1500 years BC, when the smaller bluestones were rearranged in the horseshoe and circle that can be seen today.
The original number of stones in the bluestone circle was probably around 60, but these have since been removed or broken up. Some remain as stumps below ground level.
Source: Stonehenge.co.uk
What do Charles Dellschau and Ingersoll Lockwood have in common?
Mysterious ‘cold blob’ in the Atlantic suggests the AMOC is weakening
A patch of ocean south-east of Greenland is the only place on Earth that is cooling, and it could be a sign that the warm water "conveyor belt" in the Atlantic is slowing down
By Alec Luhn
The “cold blob” appears in a data visualisation showing average temperatures in 2015, relative to the 1951-80 average
NASA Scientific Visualization Studio/Goddard Space Flight Center
Over the past 150 years, Earth’s entire surface has been warming, except for one patch of the north Atlantic. Located south-east of Greenland, this area has cooled by as much as 1°C and is known as the “warming hole” or the “cold blob”.
The swath of ocean — dubbed the “cold blob” or “warming hole” — has cooled by nearly 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) since 1900.
Scientists have long debated whether this anomaly is driven by heat loss from the ocean surface due to changes to winds and clouds, or whether it’s a signal of the weakening of a critical system of ocean currents, which transports heat. The new research concludes it’s the latter, and the finding points to a worrying future.
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, works like a vast ocean conveyor belt, pulling warm water from the tropics to the Northern Hemisphere, where it cools, sinks and flows back south.
A raft of research suggests this system is weakening as human-driven global warming melts ice and causes a surge of freshwater into the ocean, disrupting the AMOC’s delicate balance of heat and salinity. Some scientists warn the AMOC is heading toward a tipping point, potentially as early at this century, which would mean a future collapse is locked in.
An AMOC shutdown would be a global catastrophe, causing accelerated sea level rise on the US East Coast, plunging Europe into a winter deep freeze and shifting the monsoon in Africa, driving prolonged droughts.
The cold blob has been interpreted by some as a fingerprint of AMOC change, because it’s the region to which the AMOC brings much of its heat.
To better unravel what’s happening in this part of the Atlantic, the study scientists combined real-world ocean heat data from instruments and satellites with climate models.
They found that cooling in the cold blob was not just happening on the surface but also deep in the ocean, where atmospheric conditions like winds and clouds have a much weaker influence.
All signs point to the influence of the AMOC, the study found. “It is changing ocean heat transport” which is driving the cooling of the cold blob, said Stefan Rahmstorf, a study author and a physics and oceans professor at Potsdam University, Germany.
There is also plenty of other evidence the AMOC is weakening, independent of the cold blob, he added, with some studies suggesting it’s at the weakest it’s been in around 1,000 years.
Previous studies have demonstrated it’s possible to generate a cold blob through atmospheric conditions alone, said René van Westen, a marine and atmospheric researcher at Utrecht University, who was not involved in the research. But the fact the new study found consistent results across different datasets “strengthens the robustness of the conclusions,” he said.
David Thornally, a professor of ocean and climate science at University College London, also not involved in the research, said that the study bolsters evidence of a link between the cold blob and a weakening AMOC, but cautioned that the sparseness of real-world data means the available datasets “are best viewed as good approximations rather than perfect representations of reality.”
Uncertainties remain, he told CNN, and “I don’t think (this study) will be the final word on the issue.”
Jonathan Baker, a senior climate scientist at the UK Met Office, agreed, telling CNN “I would view this study as adding evidence for an AMOC contribution to the cold blob, rather than definitively settling the question.”
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Scientists Have Detected Something Deeply Alarming at the Bottom of the Ocean
Shutterstock / Futurism
Something is stirring in the waters off the coast of Greenland, and it isn’t a submarine fleet sent by Donald Trump.
According to reporting by the New Scientist, evidence is mounting that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation — a massive system of deep sea currents that acts like a conveyor belt for the world’s oceans known as AMOC — is starting to slow its gears. As it does, cold waters from the Greenland ice sheet are allowed to pool in the North-Atlantic, creating a “cold blob” that’s only getting colder as the rest of the world warms up.
This in turn has a major impact on jet streams, fueling extreme weather across the world. Should it collapse, the New Scientist notes that the AMOC could act as a climate tipping point, setting off a chain reaction resulting in much colder weather for some, and much drier weather for others by as early as 2040.
“The cold blob can disturb the atmospheric jet stream and storm activities, so it has implications for extreme weather events in North America and Europe,” Laifang Li, assistant professor of meteorology and atmospheric science at Penn State explained in a press release announcing an earlier study on the AMOC.
Identifying how severe this cold blob ends up being may depend on the cause for the weakening AMOC — a topic which has researchers split. Some, like Li, say it’s caused by atmospheric forces, while others have identified oceanic conditions as the culprit.
In the latter camp is Stefan Rahmstorf, researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, whose team found evidence that heat loss from the ocean surface has been slowly shrinking since 1955, meaning whatever’s happening is driven by ocean currents. As Rahmstorf plainly told the New Scientist: “even if, in some modelling approaches, it seems possible that the cold blob is caused by the atmosphere, in fact, the data show it is caused by the ocean.”
One thing that’s sure is that the AMOC is definitely weakening, as troubling data from deep-ocean buoys shows crucial ocean currents slow at various points throughout the Atlantic. What this ultimately means remains to be seen — but rest assured, it isn’t good.
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