Do You know?
Regeneration is a superpower that isn't just found in science fiction and superhero films. Nature has its own creatures capable of regenerating lost limbs as and when they please, from centipedes that regrow their legs to lizards that reform their tails.
However, scientists have discovered a true natural superhero. Meet the eight-legged sea spider, a marine arthropod with the ability to regrow not just limbs but entire body parts!
— Gerhard Scholtz of Humboldt University in Berlint
Scholts and colleagues discovered astounding results after amputating different hind limbs and posterior parts of 23 immature and adult sea spiders.
The juvenile sea spiders regenerated all or nearly all of their missing body parts, including the hindgut, anus, musculature, and even reproductive organs!
Adult sea spiders, on the other hand, did not regenerate any body parts. However, some of them demonstrated remarkable resilience by surviving even two years later.
"In the end, maybe the mechanisms we detect in arthropods may help medical treatments of limb loss, finger loss, and so on in humans," Scholtz believes. "There is always hope."