The "Oxford University" is older than the Aztec Empire.
Teaching at Oxford began as early as 1096. By the time the Aztec Empire was founded in 1428 (with the formation of the Triple Alliance), Oxford had already been operating as a center of learning for over 330 years.
If you were a student at Oxford in the year 1400, you would have been studying in a university that was already "ancient" by the time the Aztecs began building their capital city, Tenochtitlan.
Here is something that sounds like science fiction but is a documented biological reality: There is a species of jellyfish known as Turritopsis dohrnii that is biologically immortal.
When this jellyfish reaches adulthood and experiences physical trauma, starvation, or environmental stress, it doesn't die. Instead, it undergoes a process called transdifferentiation.
It essentially hits a "reset button" on its own biology:
- It pulls its tentacles in.
- Its body shrinks and becomes a blob of undifferentiated cells.
- It settles onto the ocean floor and transforms back into a polyp—the earliest stage of its life cycle, equivalent to a human turning back into an embryo.
From that polyp, it then buds off and grows into a brand-new, genetically identical adult jellyfish. It can repeat this cycle indefinitely.
Because it can bypass death and return to its juvenile state, it has no natural maximum lifespan. In theory, a single Turritopsis dohrnii could live forever, provided it isn't eaten by a predator or killed by a disease. Scientists are currently studying them intensely, hoping to unlock the secrets of how they "reprogram" their cells, which could have massive implications for human regenerative medicine and aging research.
Here is something that sounds like a myth, but is actually a documented biological fact: There is a species of jellyfish that is biologically immortal.
The jellyfish is called Turritopsis dohrnii.
Typically, when a jellyfish reaches the end of its life cycle, it dies. However, when Turritopsis dohrnii faces physical damage, starvation, or environmental stress, it doesn’t just die. Instead, it undergoes a process called transdifferentiation.
Here is how it works:
- The jellyfish pulls in its tentacles and shrinks its body.
- It settles onto the ocean floor.
- It essentially "reverts" its cells back to their earliest state—turning from an adult back into a polyp (the stage of a jellyfish’s life before it becomes a free-swimming medusa).
Think of it like a butterfly being able to turn back into a caterpillar, or a frog turning back into a tadpole whenever it gets sick or old.
Because it can repeat this cycle indefinitely, the jellyfish theoretically has no natural limit to its lifespan. It can keep resetting its biological clock over and over again, which is why scientists often refer to it as the "Benjamin Button" of the animal kingdom.
The only reason we aren't overrun by immortal jellyfish is that they are still very vulnerable to being eaten by predators or succumbing to diseases while in their polyp stage.