Miracle Immortal Man

Here's a fun game for a slow Thursday: try to hold the two quotes below beside each other and not get confused when you learn that they come from the one source, Japanese scientist Shin Kubota. The 60 year old marine biologist recently featured in the New York Times Magazine studies a rare species of jellyfish that has a life cycle resembling Benjamin Button's.[quote]Man, [Kubota] explained, "is intelligent enough to achieve biological immortality. But we don’t deserve it." This sentiment surprised me coming from a man who has dedicated his life to pursuing immortality.[/quote]

Kubota's jellyfish are biologically immortal. They grow old but instead of dying they grow young again before repeating the same cycle perpetually. Still, the jellyfish would be unremarkable if not for the uncanny resemblance their genes have to human genes. But don't mistake me for a scientist; I failed Physics twice and barely passed Biology in college. Read the story for yourself and let me know if it unsettled you as much as it did me.

[quote]"Self-control is very difficult for humans... In order to solve this problem, spiritual change is needed."[/quote]