Star Trek Ruminations

In the past I've commented at length on the plausibility of the Drayan , a species the ages in reverse in the episode "Innocence" ( VOY ). Recently Earthweek featured an article on an 'immortal' jellyfish called turritopsis nutricula . As explained below this little animal is not just biologically immortal, but is actually capable of reverse aging. Turritopsis nutricula - That is the scientific name for a jellyfish-like creature. After it matures and reproduces, this creature completely reverts to a younger state and starts its life over again. (Read more here and here .) So speculation and extrapolation aside, we do have here on earth proof that there is such a thing as reverse aging. If only we could get poor turritopsis nutricula a new name. Perhaps Drayan would be most appropriate. You can read these same comments in context here: 100 Years Young - Can an Organism 'Grow' Smaller and Younger?

100 Years Young: Part I: Musings About the Drayan Life-Cycle Part II: Is Aging an Inevitable Biological Fact? Part III: Can an Organism 'Grow' Smaller and Younger? Part IV: The Drayan Civilization Coming to terms with reverse aging is one thing. Accounting for the Drayan's death customs is another. While the episode reveals very few specifics regarding their aging process or their history, what little information we are given strongly suggests an outline of their history as a civilization. A Powerful Instinct—An Ancient Belief The Drayan moon is a holy place for them. They hold it to be the place where the first spark of life came from, and the Drayan leader explains that a powerful instinct draws them back to this place as death approaches. This instinct is evidently woven into the their DNA as strongly as a salmon's instinct to return to its spawning ground or a Vulcan's to return home for the Pon Farr. And as a civilization, the Drayan have ancient beliefs and c...

100 Years Young: Part I: Musings About the Drayan Life-Cycle Part II: Is Aging an Inevitable Biological Fact? Part III: Can an Organism 'Grow' Smaller and Younger? Part IV: The Drayan Civilization If you're ready to accept, or at least consider, that aging isn't a biological necessity , accepting the idea that things might grow smaller over time should be a relatively simple matter. At the same time, there are some logistical problems to work out. Consider the following comment from a book about how science-fiction writers can craft convincing alien life-forms: "Every creature I know of starts out as a smaller structure produced in the body of one or more adults of its kind. To become an adult itself, it must grow" ( Aliens and Alien Societies , Stanley Schmidt). Schmidt's comment that things " must grow" does make a lot of sense—and in principle I am inclined to agree with him. This illustrates our second instinctive objection to the Drayan lif...

100 Years Young: Part I: Musings About the Drayan Life-Cycle Part II: Is Aging an Inevitable Biological Fact? Part III: Can an Organism 'Grow' Smaller and Younger? Part IV: The Drayan Civilization Regarding this first point, let me begin with the assertion that what we know as the aging process is not the fundamental truth we presume it to be. I recently came across an intriguing short story called "Invariant" by John Pierce about a scientist who learns how to stop biological aging. As the story explains: "The regeneration of limbs in salamanders led to the idea of perfect regeneration of human parts. How, say, a cut heals, leavng not a scar, but a perfect replica of the damaged tissue. How in normal metabolism tissue can be replaced not imperfectly, as in an aging organism, but perfectly, indfinitely." (The story deals with some unexpected results of his research - you may want to find a copy of this story to see how it ends.) The idea of "perfect re...

100 Years Young: Part I: Musings About the Drayan Life-Cycle Part II: Is Aging an Inevitable Biological Fact? Part III: Can an Organism 'Grow' Smaller and Younger? Part IV: The Drayan Civilization Reverse aging. It's one of the most intriguing concepts in xenobiology introduced into the Star Trek universe. A quiet little episode of Voyager called "Innocent" features a Delta-Quadrant race called the Drayan that have this kind of life-cycle. Unfortunately the concept was introduced but barely explored. The cursory treatment of the idea probably left most fans scratching their heads, dismissing the whole notion of reverse aging, and forgetting about the Drayan as just another alien-species-of-the-week. However, I would argue that this is a concept worthy of further consideration and is even a plausible idea——if not in the real world at least within the confines of the Star Trek universe. To address this topic I will begin by briefly outlining the episode, focusi...