He Got Amnesia From a Cold Virus

Imagine that you are an accomplished musicologist and conductor, confident in your outstanding abilities and successful in your career; an acknowledged expert.

Then one particular day, you contract a cold virus, nothing new in that, you think. But, the virus causes a brain infection and suddenly, your memory is deleted and your ability to make new memories is catastrophically impaired.

This scenario above happened to Clive Wearing in 1985. Every moment he is awake, it is like he just woke up. His memory span is only a few seconds.

In the beginning, Mr Wearing began keeping a journal. Every few minutes, he would write the time and then the words, "This time properly awake", crossing out the same words that he had written only minutes before. 

It was like he was trying to assert his existence and find himself. But his memory span was only a few seconds and Mr Wearing could never find any continuity of self. In those few seconds of consciousness, he thought that he had been dead and somehow woken up.

In a diary provided by his caretakers, Wearing was encouraged to record his thoughts. Page after page is filled with entries similar to the following:

8:31 AM: Now I am really, completely awake.
9:06 AM: Now I am perfectly, overwhelmingly awake.
9:34 AM: Now I am superlatively, actually awake.

Tragically. Mr Wearing remembered his wife and his love for her. Why tragic you ask? Well, because, every few minutes, it was like he saw her for the first time, after the horrifying experience of not knowing what had happened to him and being surrounded by strangers, in a place he did not know. Minute after minute, during a hospital visit, he would react with extreme passion, love and distress.

The scars on his brain and damage to his memory, however, enabled Mr Wearing to retain some memories, but they were out of wack in many ways. He knew he was married, but couldn't describe his wife; he knew he had children, but thought they were much younger.

Strangely Mr Wearing also began to speak and write backwards, very skilfully and fast and showing that despite the brain damage, there is some wonderful wit and intelligence still thriving.

Are Some Animals Immortal?

It seems that some animals possess biological immortality...at least in theory.

Lobsters

As they age, older lobsters become more fertile than younger lobsters. Lobsters, also, don't seem to die from old age, but due to being eaten by predators, or humans, or due to wasting by parasitic infestation.

Scientists who study lobsters, do not have a way of working out the age of lobsters accurately, but it is believed that a lobster in the wild can reach a lifespan of 100 years. Lobsters when studied, show high levels of telomerase, an enzyme which repairs DNA sequences, and this seems to be their fountain of youth.

Immortal Jelly Fish

The immortal jellyfish

The immortal jellyfish, Turritopsis dohrnii, grows from a polyp into an adult and then it is able to reverse the cycle and become a polyp again. The jellyfish goes through the life cycle, growing into an adult, creating offspring, but instead of dying, it reverts back into a polyp.

Hydra

Hydra freshwater polyps don't appear to age and appear to be immortal. These tiny creatures do not mate but reproduce by budding; to do this they require a good supply of stem cells. The gene FoxO, which is also evident in humans, seems to be one of the important drivers of this continued renewal in the hydra and research on these creatures is providing important evidence about human ageing.

Planarian Flatworms

Scientists at the University of Nottingham have proved that these flatworms can regenerate indefinitely. Like the lobsters, the telomerase enzyme appears to be the important longevity factor. Of note, these creatures are hermaphrodites, possessing both testicles and ovaries. Also, if a worm is cut into pieces, they can regenerate into a complete organism. And if the head of a planariais is cut down the middle, the organism can grow two heads and continue living.

Tardigrade

Tardigrades which are known as waterbears, or moss piglets, can survive in very extreme conditions, withstanding water temperature from zero to well above the boiling point. They can be found in the deepest ocean and can survive the vacuum of outer space (taken on FOTON-M3 mission) and solar radiation, gamma radiation, ionic radiation, at levels hundreds of times that which would kill humans. They can also survive a decade without water, by entering a state called cryptobiosis. Their ability to withstand such extremes, which would kill other animals, is due to the use of trehalose, a nonreducing sugar.

Tardigrade

However. tardigrades are only 1.5 mm long and they mostly spend their time sucking the juice out of moss and algae. To survive extreme conditions, these animals can slow their metabolism down to extreme levels called "Tönnchenform" and stay like that for decades. This has helped tardigrades, as a species, survive for 500 million years.