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In 1946, geologists found a hibernating frog in a mineral deposit in Mexico that had lived for more than 2 million years, and the frog showed no signs of decay, was still intact and still "alive".
How did it survive all this time? Through testing, scientists found that the frog had never woken up in a place where there was no light in the ore space, and this process was called "hibernation".
And the hibernation state of this frog is not a miracle, there are many other life forms on the earth where we live, and they have also accepted this state of hibernation and have continued to do so.
What kind of inspiration does their longevity have for us who are constantly on the go day and night?
Is it necessarily good to live a long life?
Can you live for 2 million years by sleeping?
In 1966, geologists in Mexico found a frog in the local deposit without a trace of decay, this frog did not show the slightest sign of death, and it was not crawling with insects and corpses like other dead animals, but as if freshly unearthed, the whole body remained in good condition and perfectly preserved.
What's even more incredible is that this frog has not shown a trace of death for more than 2 million years, and it is still as fresh as new, as if it were alive.
Scientists soon found the reason, that is, "hibernation", the frog has no light in the ore layer space is undoubtedly dark, this environment is completely dark for the light-sensitive frog.
Prolonged darkness in the frog's mind stimulates it to hibernate in its mind.
At the same time, there is another factor that can also aggravate the hibernation response of frogs, and that is constant temperature.
Frogs live in forests and farmland in tropical or temperate regions, and the right temperature can keep the frogs alive, and when the temperature rises during the day, the frogs will come out to forage for food.
At night, when the temperature drops, the frogs go back to the dirt and hide for a long rest at night.
The life of frogs is actually very dependent on temperature, and the life of day and night feeding is because the temperature rises when the sun rises during the day, the insects are more active, and the frog can catch more food, and the temperature at night is lower, which also reduces the biological activity energy of the frog and consumes complete food.
Therefore, the biological metabolism of frogs is extremely closely related to temperature.
At the same time, when the temperature in the environment drops to the limit, the frog's biological metabolism almost stops, and it becomes a half-dead state.
Most of the time, this near-halted metabolic state will cause the frog to die, but there are a few cases where the frog can survive, such as when they are buried in the subsoil and when the temperature is right, they will wake up again.
More than 2 million years ago, the frog may have been buried in the underground space one winter, buried deep in it and could not dig out, and the temperature at that time was too low for it to hibernate.
But in the years that followed, the soil in which it was buried slowly covered the earth's crust and became a layer of mine, with no light in the depths of the layer and a constant temperature, which made the frog no longer feel cold and fell into a constant state of hibernation.
Temperature and metabolism.
What's going on in the hibernation state of frogs?
The effect of hibernation was first discovered by researchers in the process of fetal development, when the fetus develops to a certain extent, it will stop developing in the mother's body, and further development will lead to maternal damage, so the fetus is chosen to hibernate.
The earliest studies found that only animals in temperate and subarctic zones developed hibernation responses, while animals living in tropical and subtropical regions did not.
The reason for this is that the temperature of nitrogen and oxygen in the winter in temperate and cold regions can be extremely low, even to the point where organisms cannot survive.
If animals are still active in winter, their biological metabolism will consume a lot of calories, causing the body temperature to drop extremely, causing their whole body organs to stop moving due to low temperatures, and eventually die.
Therefore, when winter comes, animals must stop their activities in order to reduce their metabolism and reduce calorie loss.
This phenomenon is even more pronounced in the cold zone.
In addition to frogs, other animals also hibernate with hibernation reactions, the most famous of which is the polar bear in the Arctic.
Polar bears are very large carnivores and belong to the family of mammals.
We all know this, but you know what?
In winter, male polar bears may hibernate in a cave in the forest for months or even an entire year.
Animals in temperate regions will experience a few months of spring awakening after hibernation, while animals in cold regions will experience cold seasons after hibernation, and with long years, hibernation will become almost dormant and the animals will recover under suitable conditions.
In fact, hibernation is not limited to mammals, but also to reptiles, insects, and fish.
The factors that affect animal metabolism are also food, food is the raw material of metabolism, and the metabolism can only be carried out after the animals eat the food, and in the case of extremely low temperature difference in winter, the animals will not come out to forage.
Hence the phenomenon of hibernation.
At the same time, there is also a phenomenon of diurnal temperature difference, and many animals will also hibernate due to the change of morning and evening temperature difference, and enter a state of hibernation.
This condition is very common in insects, where they hibernate when the temperature is low and awaken when the temperature is high.
Lighthouse Jellyfish: An Quest for Eternal Life.
In addition to frogs, there is another creature that has survived for millions of years without the slightest sign of decay, and that is the lighthouse jellyfish.
The lighthouse jellyfish is a creature in the shallow waters of the deep sea, inhabiting the shallow waters of the ocean, often floating in the currents of the ocean, like small lighthouses, guiding the ships home.
The longevity of the lighthouse jellyfish lies in the fact that it can metadifferentiate into cells, and through the ability of cells to metadifferentiate, this almost magical ability, the lighthouse jellyfish can become larvae, and then redevelop and grow, this process almost allows the lighthouse jellyfish to achieve "rejuvenation".
This near-magical phenomenon has made epoch-making advances in science.
Scientists have found that this ability contains the ability to transdifferentiate cells in the genome of lighthouse jellyfish.
The cell transdifferentiation of lighthouse jellyfish can help humans achieve "immortality", and human research on lighthouse jellyfish has become a hot new direction of biology.
This cell transdifferentiation of the lighthouse jellyfish is actually a photographic process, in the lighthouse jellyfish, the larval stage is the most prosperous period, after which the fertility will decline in adulthood, aging will gradually appear, and the last stage of the lighthouse jellyfish will enter the state of senescence and die.
In this cycle, the lighthouse jellyfish will transdifferentiate once after each cycle, and after the cell transdifferentiation, the lighthouse jellyfish will seem to become a larvae and go through a biological cycle again.
How does this phenomenon work scientifically?
Scientists believe that the cells in the genome are transdifferentiated genes that are strong enough to allow cells to alter the developmental process and cycle between different periods.
epilogue
For us humans, is it necessarily good to live a long life?
People sometimes discuss the meaning of longevity, but the definition of longevity is not scientifically accurate, and some people think that a declining body is a declining soul, and that the soul is not strong when the body is not good.
Some people believe that longevity is an achievement of survival, a gift from nature, and should be cherished.