National Geographic Quotes Lindsay in Article on Newly Discovered Jellyfish Process
National Geographic spoke with Sara Lindsay, an associate professor of marine science at the University of Maine, for the article “The surprising way jellyfish put themselves back together.” The article focused on research conducted in 2013 by biologists at the California Institute of Technology or Caltech in Pasadena. After cutting two arms off a moon jellyfish, the researchers expected the animal would regrow its limbs like other marine invertebrates, but instead the moon jelly rearranged its six remaining arms until they were evenly placed around the body, according to the article. “This is an amazing study and a fantastic piece of detective work,” said Lindsay, who was not involved with the study. Muscles in the jellyfish’s body pushed and pulled on the remaining arms until they were evenly spaced in a phenomenon the scientists call “symmetrization,” the article states. “This isn’t replacing lost parts, it’s replacing their function. That’s pretty cool,” Lindsay said.