Lab-Made Jellyfish Hints at Heart Fix, University of Reading Study
7/23/2012 7:20:04 AM
Even before a jolt of electricity was applied to animate its body, the cyborg twitched with signs of life. No, this isn't a scene from Frankenstein but a lab at Harvard University where the world's first artificial jellyfish has been created. With a single pulse of electricity, it even swims like the real thing. Called a medusoid, after the umbrella-shaped class of jellyfish it mimics, the silicone cyborg uses heart muscle cells from a rat to recreate the pumping motion of the moon jellyfish, Aurelia aurita. When video of the medusoid is shown alongside that of the real thing, the similarity is startling.
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