Scientists create 'IMMORTAL' mutant monsters with MULTIPLE HEADS

Hydras – appropriately named after mythical Greek monsters – are one of nature’s most curious creations. The minuscule freshwater animal has been dubbed “immortal” by scientists due to its uncanny ability to perfectly regenerate itself from only a minuscule part of its body. And researchers have now made the animals even more odd make forcing them to sprout fully-functional heads all over their bodies.

Related articles
Mars Deep Drill: NASA plan to dig 10km hole in ALIEN LIFE search
Alien life search ‘only just BEGINNING’ says top scientist

This is because scientists have finally figured-out regulates hydra head regeneration – with potentially profound implications for cancer research.

Simple organisms like this tell us what kind of test we can do in mammals

Professor Brigitte Galliota

Body parts regeneration is a an incredible achievement, requiring animals has to reorganise its body limb-by-limb.

Although scientists held some pieces of the puzzle, such as knowing the gene Wnt3 is crucial for head growth, they were huge gaps in their knowledge.

A key area is understanding the hydra’s "off" switch, preventing growth of near-infinite heads for example.

READ MORE: Mysterious signals 1.5 billion light years away could be proof of alien life

Mutant monsters with MULTIPLE HEADS2Mutant monsters: Hydras with multiple heads have grown in a lab (Image: Professor Brigitte Galliota / University of Geneva)

hydra animalHydras: The freshwater animal has been dubbed “immortal' (Image: Getty)

And University of Geneva scientists appear to have discovered what they were looking for – the seemingly simple Sp5 gene capable of halting an otherwise runaway feedback loop.

And in order to test their theory the researchers grew hydras engineered not to express the Sp5 gene.

"In 100 percent of these animals you get extra heads,

read more.....

NEXT Cost and time blowouts are a running joke on home reno shows. Here's how to ...