Compared to many other species, all humans have incredibly similar genomes. However, even slight variations in our genes or environments can cause us to develop traits that make us unique. These differences can manifest in ordinary ways, such as through hair color, height, or facial structure, but occasionally, a person or population develops a characteristic that distinctly sets them apart from the rest of the human race.

10Can’t Get High Cholesterol

While most of us have to worry about limiting our intake of fried foods, bacon, eggs, or anything that we’re told is on the “cholesterol-raising list” of the moment, a few people can eat all these things and more without fear. In fact, no matter what they consume, their “bad cholesterol” (blood levels of low-density lipoprotein, associated with heart disease) remains virtually non-existent.

These people were born with a genetic mutation. More specifically, they lack working copies of a gene known as PCSK9, and while it’s usually unlucky to be born with a missing gene, in this case, it seems to have some positive side effects.

After scientists discovered the relationship between this gene (or lack thereof) and cholesterol about 10 years ago, drug companies have worked frantically to create a pill that would block PCSK9 in other individuals. The drug is close to getting FDA approval. In early trials, patients who have taken it have experienced as much as a 75-percent reduction in their cholesterol levels.

So far, scientists have only found the mutation in a handful of African Americans, and those with it have the benefit of a 90-percent reduced risk of heart disease.

9Resistance To HIV

All sorts of things could wipe out the human race—asteroid strikes, nuclear annihilation, and extreme climate change, just to name a few. Perhaps the scariest threat is some type of super-virulent virus. If a disease ravages the population, only the rare few who are immune would have a chance of survival. Fortunately, we know that certain people are indeed resistant to particular diseases.

Take HIV, for example. Some people have a genetic mutation that disables their copy of the CCR5 protein. HIV uses that protein as a doorway into human cells. So, if a person lacks CCR5, HIV can’t enter their cells, and they’re extremely unlikely to become infected with the disease.

That being said, scientists say that people with this mutation are resistant rather than immune to HIV. A few individuals without this protein have contracted and even died from AIDS. Apparently, some unusual types of HIV have figured out how to use proteins other than CCR5 to invade cells. This type of resourcefulness is why viruses are so scary.

Folks with two copies of the defective gene are most resistant to HIV. Currently, that includes only about 1 percent of Caucasians and is even more rare in other ethnicities.

8Malaria Resistance

Those who have an especially high resistance to malaria are carriers of another deadly disease: sickle cell anemia. Of course, no one wants the ability to dodge malaria only to die prematurely from malformed blood cells, but there is one situation where having the sickle cell gene pays off. To understand how that works, we have to explore the basics of both diseases.

Malaria is a type of parasite carried by mosquitoes that can lead to death (about 660,000 people per year) or at the very least make someone feel at death’s door. Malaria does its dirty work by invading red blood cells and reproducing. After a couple days, new malaria parasites burst out of the inhabited blood cell, destroying it. They then invade other red blood cells. This cycle continues until the parasites are stopped through treatment, the body’s defense mechanisms, or death. This process causes a loss of blood and weakens the lungs and liver. It also increases blood clotting, which can spark a coma or seizure.

Sickle cell anemia causes changes in the shape and makeup of red blood cells, which makes it difficult for them to flow through the blood stream and deliver adequate levels of oxygen. However, because the blood cells are mutated, they confuse the malaria parasite, making it difficult for it to attach and infiltrate the blood cells. Consequently, those who have sickle cells are naturally protected against malaria.

You can get the anti-malaria benefits without actually having sickle cells, so long as you’re a carrier of the sickle cell gene. To get sickle cell anemia, a person has to inherit two copies of the mutated gene, one from each parent. If they only get one, they have enough abnormal hemoglobin to resist malaria yet will never develop full-fledged anemia.

Because of its strong protection against malaria, the sickle cell trait has become highly naturally selected in areas of the world where malaria is widespread, with as much 10–40 percent of people carrying the mutation.

7Tolerance For Coldness

Inuits and other populations who live in intensely cold environments have adapted to an extreme way of life. Have these people simply learned how to survive in these environments, or are they somehow biologically different?

Cold-dwellers have different physiological responses to low temperatures compared to those who live in milder environments. And it appears there might be at least a partial genetic component to these adaptations, because even if someone moves to a cold environment and lives there for decades, their bodies never quite reach the same level of adaptation as natives who have lived in the environment for generations. For instance, researchers have found that indigenous Siberians are better adapted to the cold even when compared to non-indigenous Russians living in the same community.

People native to cold climates have higher basal metabolic rates (around 50 percent higher) than those accustomed to temperate climates. Also, they can maintain their body temperatures better without shivering and have relatively fewer sweat glands on the body and more on the face. In one study, researchers tested different races to see how their skin temperatures changed when exposed to cold. They found that Inuits were able to maintain the highest skin temperature of any group tested, followed by other Native Americans.

These types of adaptations partly explain why aboriginal Australians can sleep on the ground during cold nights (without shelter or clothing) with no ill effects and why Inuits can live much of their lives in subzero temperatures.

The human body is much better suited at adjusting to heat than to cold, so it’s rather impressive that people manage to live at all in freezing temperatures, let alone thrive.

6Optimized For High Altitude

Most climbers who’ve made it to the summit of Mt. Everest wouldn’t have done so without a local Sherpa guide. Amazingly, Sherpas often travel ahead of the adventurers to set ropes and ladders, just so the other climbers have a chance of making it up the steep cliffs.

There’s little doubt that Tibetans and Nepalese are physically superior in this high-altitude environment, yet what is it exactly that allows them to work vigorously in oxygen-depleted conditions, while ordinary folks have to struggle just to stay alive?

Tibetans live at an altitude above 4,000 meters (13,000 ft) and are accustomed to breathing air that contains about 40 percent less oxygen than at sea level. Over the centuries, their bodies compensated for this low-oxygen environment by developing bigger chests and greater lung capacities, which make it possible for them to inhale more air with each breath.

And, unlike lowlanders whose bodies produce more red blood cells when in low oxygen, high-altitude people have evolved to do the exact opposite—they produce fewer red blood cells. This is because while an increase in red blood cells might temporarily help a person get more oxygen to the body, it makes blood thicker over time and can lead to blood clots and other potentially deadly complications. Similarly, Sherpas have better blood flow in their brains and are overall less susceptible to altitude sickness.

Even when living at lower altitudes, Tibetans still maintain these traits, and researchers have found that many of these adaptations aren’t simply phenotypic variances (i.e., would reverse at low altitudes) but are genetic adaptations. One particular genetic change occurred in a stretch of DNA known as EPAS1, which codes for a regulatory protein. This protein detects oxygen and controls production of red blood cells and explains why Tibetans don’t overproduce red blood cells when deprived of oxygen, like ordinary people.

The Han Chinese, the lowland relatives of the Tibetans, do not share these genetic characteristics. The two groups split from each other about 3,000 years ago, which means these adaptations occurred in only about 100 generations—a relatively short time in terms of evolution.

5Immunity To A Brain Disease

In case we needed another reason to avoid cannibalism, eating our own kind is not a particularly healthy choice. The Fore people of Papua New Guinea showed us as much in the mid–20th century when their tribe suffered through an epidemic of Kuru—a degenerative and fatal brain disease spread by eating other humans.

Kuru is a prion disease related to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in humans and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease). Like all prion diseases, kuru decimates the brain, filling it with sponge-like holes. The infected suffers through a decline in memory and intellect, personality changes, and seizures. Sometimes, people can live with a prion disease for years, but in the case of kuru, the afflicted usually die within a year of showing symptoms. It’s important to note that, although very rare, a person can inherit a prion disease. However, the illness is most commonly spread by eating an infected person or animal.

Initially, anthropologists and medical doctors didn’t know why kuru was spreading across the Fore tribe. Finally, in the late 1950s, it was discovered that the infection was being transmitted at mortuary feasts, where tribe members would consume their deceased relatives out of respect. Mostly women and young children participated in the cannibalistic ritual. Consequently, they were the ones predominantly affected. Before the funerary practice was banned, some Fore villages had virtually no young women remaining.

But not all who were exposed to kuru died from it. Survivors had a novel variation in a gene called G127V that made them immune to the brain disease. Now, the gene is widespread among the Fore and surrounding people, which is surprising because kuru only popped up in the area around 1900. This incident is one of the strongest and most recent examples of natural selection in humans.

4Golden Blood

Although we’re often told that type O blood is a universal blood type that anyone can receive, that’s not the case. In fact, the whole system is a bit more complicated than many of us realize.

While most of us are aware of the eight basic blood types (A, AB, B, and O—each of which can be positive or negative), there are currently 35 known blood group systems, with millions of variations in each system. Blood that doesn’t fall into the ABO system is considered rare, and those who have such blood may find it challenging to locate a compatible donor when in need of a transfusion.

Still, there’s rare blood, and then there’s really rare blood. Presently, the most unusual kind of blood is known as “Rh-null.” As its name suggests, it doesn’t contain any antigens in the Rh system. It’s not that uncommon for a person to lack some Rh antigens. For instance, people who don’t have the Rh D antigen have “negative” blood (e.g. A-, B-, or O-). Still, it’s extremely extraordinary for someone to not have a single Rh antigen. It’s so extraordinary, in fact, that researchers have only come across 40 or so individuals on the planet who have Rh-null blood.

What makes this blood even more interesting is that it totally beats O blood in terms of being a universal donor, since even O-negative blood isn’t always compatible with other types of rare negative blood. Rh-null, however, works with nearly any type of blood. This is because, when receiving a transfusion, our bodies will likely reject any blood that contains antigens we don’t possess. And since Rh-null blood has zero Rh, A, or B antigens, it can be given to practically everyone.

Unfortunately, there are only about nine donors of this blood in the world, so it’s only used in extreme situations. Because of its limited supply and enormous value as a potential lifesaver, some doctors have referred to Rh-null as “golden” blood. In some cases, they’ve even tracked down anonymous donors (a big no-no) to request a sample.

Those who have the Rh-null type undoubtedly have a bittersweet existence. They know that their blood is literally a lifesaver for others with rare blood, yet if they themselves need blood, their options are limited to the donations of only nine people.

3Crystal-Clear Underwater Vision

Most animals’ eyes are designed for seeing things underwater or in air—not both. The human eye, of course, is adept at seeing things in air. When we try to open our eyes underwater, things look blurry. This is because the water has a similar density to the fluids in our eyes, which limits the amount of refracted light that can pass into the eye. Low refraction equals fuzzy vision.

That knowledge makes it all the more surprising that a group of people, known as the Moken, have the ability to see clearly underwater, even at depths up to 22 meters (75 ft).

The Moken spend eight months of the year on boats or stilt houses. They only return to land to get essential items, which they acquire by bartering foods or shells collected from the ocean. They gather resources from the sea using traditional methods, which means no modern fishing poles, masks, or diving gear. Children are responsible for collecting food, such as clams or sea cucumbers, from the sea floor. Through this repetitive and consistent task, their eyes are now capable of changing shape when underwater to increase light refraction. Thus, they can easily distinguish between edible clams and ordinary rocks even when many meters below water.

When tested, the Moken children had underwater vision twice as sharp as European children. However, it seems that this is an adaptation that we might all possess if our environment demanded it, since researchers have trained European children to perform underwater tasks as successfully as the Moken.

2Super-Dense Bones

Getting old comes with a host of physical problems. A common such issue is osteoporosis, a loss of bone mass and density. This leads to inevitable bone fractures, broken hips, and hunched spines—not a pleasant fate for anyone. Still, it’s not all bad news, as a group of people have a unique gene that may hold the secret to curing osteoporosis.

The gene is found in the Afrikaner population (South Africans with Dutch origins), and it causes people to gain bone mass throughout their lives instead of losing it. More specifically, it’s a mutation in the SOST gene, which controls a protein (sclerostin) that regulates bone growth.

If an Afrikaner inherits two copies of the mutated gene, they develop the disorder sclerosteosis, which leads to severe bone overgrowth, gigantism, facial distortion, deafness, and early death. Obviously, that disorder is far worse than osteoporosis. However, if they only inherit one copy of the gene, they don’t get sclerosteosis and simply have especially dense bones throughout their lives.

Although heterozygous carriers of the gene are currently the only ones enjoying the benefits, researchers are studying the DNA of Afrikaners with hopes of finding ways to reverse osteoporosis and other skeletal disorders in the general population. Based on what they’ve learned so far, they’ve already started clinical studies on a sclerostin inhibitor that’s capable of stimulating bone formation.

1Need Little Sleep

If it ever seems like some people have more hours in their day than you do, it turns out they just might—at least more awake hours. That’s because there are unusual individuals who can operate on six or fewer hours of shut-eye a night. And they aren’t simply getting by—they thrive on this limited amount of sleep, while many of the rest of us are still dragging ourselves out of bed after snoozing for eight solid hours.

These people aren’t necessarily tougher than the rest of us, and they haven’t trained their bodies to function on less sleep. Instead, they have a rare genetic mutation of the gene DEC2, which causes them to physiologically need less sleep than the average person.

If normal sleepers were to stick to six or fewer hours of slumber, they’d start experiencing negative impacts almost immediately. Chronic sleep deprivation can even lead to health problems, including serious ones like high blood pressure and heart disease. Those with the DEC2 mutation don’t have any of the problems associated with sleep deprivation, despite the limited time their heads are on the pillow. While it might seem odd that a single gene could change what we believe is a basic human need, those studying the DEC2 mutation believe it’s helping people to sleep more efficiently with more intense REM states. Apparently, when we have better sleep, we need less of it.

This genetic anomaly is exceedingly rare and is only found in less than 1 percent of self-proclaimed short-sleepers. So, chances are, even if you think you have it, you probably don’t.

Content and copy writer by day and list writer by night, S. Grant enjoys exploring the bizarre, unusual, and topics that hide in plain sight. Contact S. Grant here.

There are some animals with real superpowers that would make even Batman jealous. The amazing abilities that these creatures possess may seem like something out of a comic book, but they’re authentic.

Let’s dive in and look into the top ten magical powers attributed to animals. 

10 Lyrebirds

Lyrebirds are amazing imitators and are of two species dwelling on the ground. The Australian Lyrebirds are the genus Menura and of the family Menuridae. They’re known for their excellent ability to imitate natural and artificial sounds in the environment. 

These Australian birds are known for their ability to mimic sounds such as chainsaws, car alarms, dogs barking, and camera shutter sounds. There is a stunning beauty of the male bird’s colossal tail fanned out in the courtship display. The Lyrebird has a unique neutral color tail feathers and is one of Australia’s most famous native birds.

9 Sloths

Sloths can survive nearly any wound as they are biologically designed to fall from trees. On average, a sloth will fall from a tree once in its lifetime. They can fall from a height of 100 feet without injury. Three-toed sloths may not move fast, but they quickly recover from wounds that may kill other animals. This ability makes Sloth the focus of scientific research. When two sloths fight, it is usually because of the female mate. The purpose of the sloth fight is to knock the opponent off the tree.

Hollow Fissures in a sloth’s hair allow many different types of algae and fungi to grow, making them look green. Certain fungi living in their fur are active against bacteria, cancers, and parasites! Sloths’ hair also provides a home for entire invertebrates. Some of these invertebrates species cannot be found anywhere else on the planet. A single sloth can accommodate up to 950 moths and beetles in its fur at a time.

8 Reindeer

Reindeer have a super ability to see. Living in the Arctic Circle, they face a challenging environment. Their world has undergone a drastic change from summer to winter- from permanent sunlight for nearly two months to continuous darkness for two months. However, reindeer can cope in both environments, partly because of a unique mechanism that allows them to change their vision under different lighting conditions.

Reindeer can extend their vision to near-ultraviolet (UV), allowing them to better use UV-rich winter light. A part of the reindeer eyes called tapetum lucidum (or “cat eyes”) changes color in winter, making it possible for them to use light in dark weather. In the winter, it turns dark blue. In summer, the tapetum lucidum of reindeer is golden yellow. 

This incredible eye adaptability may have originally evolved to help reindeer improve their ability to detect winter predators. Reindeer’s unique ultraviolet-visible ability allows them to better see and avoid predation in the harsh Arctic regions. Their primary winter food source is lichens, and their main predator- wolves.

7 Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish can turn invisible, which means that they’ve some of the best camouflage skills in the animal kingdom. They can disfigure their bodies, resembling any aquatic form, to blend in with their surroundings. They do this to hide from predators. They even have colored bags on their skin so they can change color at a moment’s notice. 

Since the time of Aristotle, natural scientists have been fascinated by the unique ability of cuttlefish, squid, and octopuses to hide under their environment’s colors and texture. These mollusks control how they look with the direct action of neurons on their skin.

6 Bats

Bats have the sixth, seventh and eighth senses: echolocation, geomagnetism, and polarization. 

Bats use echolocation to find and capture prey. Their larynx can produce an ultrasonic buzzing sound that emits through their mouth or nose. As the sound travels, the sound waves bounce off and provide the bat with radar-like information about its surroundings. This can only give them a short-range perception of the surrounding environment-about 16 to 165 feet.

Bats use their geomagnetic sense as a compass to navigate long distances, such as for migration. It may be the magnetite-based receptors in the hippocampus and thalamus neurons in their brain that give bats this ability.

The recently discovered sense is polarized vision. Bats can do polarized vision or perceive the sun in the sky even when the sun is overcast or when the sun goes down. Since bats do not have the visual form of other animals that use the sun’s rays to locate, it is not clear that their physiological structure gives them this ability. Therefore, when it comes to bats, this vision is not reflected in the traditional sense. Bats use this sensation in combination with geomagnetic sensations for navigation.

5 Sea Cucumbers

Sea cucumbers can regenerate their organs. These caterpillar-like marine creatures have one of the most fascinating defense mechanisms, but they are also very rough. They contract muscles and eject some internal organs from their butt. This will trap natural enemies and emit toxic substances. Yes, they dared to kill the enemy with their butt. The excreted organs are then regenerated.

4 Hyenas

Hyenas have stomachs of iron as they can eat all kinds of animals. They eat their prey or rotting carcasses. Their jaws can even crush bones. The only things they cannot digest are hooves, horns, and hair. Everything else is on their menu. 

In eastern and southern Africa, they kill most of their food by chasing wildebeests, antelopes, and zebras. They cover 3 kilometers at a speed of 65 kilometers (40 miles) per hour. Contrary to popular belief, both healthy and weak animals are hunted. One or two hyenas may start chasing, but dozens of them may kill the animal. Researchers observed that the adult zebra mare and her two-year-old foal (total weight 370 kg) were torn apart and consumed by 35 hyenas within half an hour.

The strong jaw and wide molars allow hyenas to reach all parts of the carcass and crush the bones, which are then digested by high hydrochloric acid concentrations in the stomach. Spotted hyenas’ stomachs can hold 14.5 kg of meat.

3 Sea Turtles

Sea turtles have a geomagnetic sense. Female sea turtles have a natal home ability that is not well known but helps them to make their way back to the beach where they hatched. Leatherback Sea Turtles have a specific type of biological clock or “third eye.” Sea turtles use this ”eye” to know where to migrate, where they are in the ocean concerning their feeding grounds, and how to navigate back to the beach where they hatched.

The Leatherback Sea Turtle has a bright pink patch on its head, a pineal gland that serves as a skylight and tells the turtle about the seasons and helps its migration to places. Their ability to find their home beach and feed grounds are impressive considering the large distances they swim.

As for many migratory species, sea turtles perform this navigation by testing the Earth’s magnetic field. Researchers conclude that the process behind this capacity comes from magnetotactic bacteria. These bacteria are affected by the Earth’s magnetic fields and establish mutual relationships with host animals.

2 Peregrine Falcons

Peregrine Falcons have lightning speed. The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal on Earth. These falcons are called “living missiles” and are everywhere except in the polar regions and New Zealand, and can reach a diving speed of 200 miles per hour. So far, the highest measured descent speed of the Peregrine is 242 mph. When they are not hunting, the Peregrine glide at speeds of 40 to 60 miles per hour.

The prominent keel, pointed wings, stiff feathers, and excellent respiratory system contribute to the Peregrine Falcon’s speed. The large keel increases the flapping power; the sharp wing produces a streamlined wing effect, the animal’s stiff and slender feathers reduce drag. Peregrines also have a unidirectional airflow into their lungs and airbags, which keeps expanding even when exhaling. This helps it achieve the best oxygen distribution. Also, the bird’s heart rate of 600 to 900 beats per minute means that they can flap their wings up to four times per second, which improves their strength and reduces fatigue.

In addition to lightning-fast dives, this falcon enjoys the fastest visual processing speed of any animal tested. They can find prey from a kilometer away. When Peregrine Falcons dive towards prey they wrap their wings around their bodies, forming an aerodynamic tear to kill fast-moving birds and small mammals.

1 Tardigrades

The Tardigrade is our final creature with supernatural powers. These are considered the most powerful animals living on the planet because it is almost impossible to kill them. They can survive under extreme physical conditions, such as temperatures from -458°F (-272°C) to 300°F (150°C). It survives pressures up to 40,000 kPa, and extremely high radiation even under vacuum conditions. They can even survive for about 30 years without food or water.

Tardigrades can live almost anywhere. They prefer to live on the bottom of lakes, moist moss, or other damp environment sediments. They can be protected from radiation, boiling liquids, pressures up to six times the pressure of the deepest part of the ocean, or even the vacuum of space. Certain species of Tardigrades can survive in low Earth orbit for ten days when exposed to space vacuum and radiation.

Researchers have discovered that Tardigrades can continue to live when all humans are dead. Harvard University and Oxford University have studied the possibility of certain astronomical events, such as asteroids hitting the Earth, nearby supernova explosions, and gamma-ray bursts, to name a few, in the next billions of years. Then, they studied the possibility of these events destroying the hardest species on Earth. They reported in a study published online in the Journal of Scientific Reports on July 14, 2017. They reported that although this catastrophic event may wipe out humans, some Tardigrades species would survive.

In many cases, Tardigrades survive by entering a state almost similar to death called Cryptobiosis. They retract their heads and legs and curl them into a dehydrated ball called “tun.” If it is reintroduced into the water, the Tardigrade comes back to life in just a few hours. In cold temperatures, they form special channels to prevent the growth of ice crystals. When they are in the water, they also have another form of defense. When the water they live in is low in oxygen, they stretch and reduce their metabolic rate. In this state, their muscles absorb enough oxygen and water to survive.

Humans are generally pretty weak animals. If you cut off your finger you are not getting it back unless you are lucky enough to have a team of highly trained surgeons and a hospital nearby. Even then you may not recover full use of it. But what if you could regrow lost body parts?

Of course to some extent we do heal from wounds but our puny human bodies are nothing compared to some animals. Here are ten animals with the power to regenerate their bodies that put humans to shame.

10 Ageless Animals That Do Not Grow Old

10 Sea Slug

Sea slugs are much more interesting than their name suggests. As well as being, well, slugs that live in the sea they have a variety of talents. Some sea slugs can defend themselves by stealing the stinging cells from jellyfish and reusing them. Some can eject ink or slime to scare off attackers. And then there are those who cut off their own head.

Elysia marginata is a type of sea slug that thinks nothing of losing its head, or rather its entire body. Normally this sea slug lives by munching on algae. Instead of just taking all the nutrients the slugs manage to harness the chloroplasts in the algae and incorporate them into their bodies. The slugs can take energy directly from the sun. But being slugs they are relatively defenceless to a host of other animals – including parasites.

When a slug finds its body has been damaged by parasites it can sever its own head. Having decapitated themselves the head then begins to crawl around and go on feeding. Over time the slug regenerates an entirely new body. The abandoned body does not die straight away and its heart goes on beating but they never manage to grow a new head of their own.

9 Sea Cucumbers

Sea cucumbers may look like slugs and live in the sea but they are not related to sea slugs. These animals generally shuffle around the ocean floor scavenging organic matter that falls down from above. Being little more than tubes of flesh they could be easy prey for other animals but they have one of the most extraordinary defences in all of nature. When a sea cucumber is threatened it can push out its internal organs to create a sticky mess that drives off an attacker in a process called evisceration.

This defence brings with it its own problems however. Once their organs are out the sea cucumbers have no way of bringing them back in. If the sea cucumber wants to live it has to grow a whole new set. And they can do this in just one to five weeks.

Regardless of whether the sea cucumber has ejected its organs out of its mouth or its posterior it begins to grow an entirely new digestive tract from both ends until it eventually meets in the middle of the organism]. Having gone through all of this effort the sea cucumber might have to do it all again if it is threatened and expels its innards.

8 Planarians

For most animals being cut in half is a major problem. The planarian worms however just shrug it off – if they happen to be the half with a head to shrug. If you cut a planarian in half you end up with two genetically identical worms that are none the worse for wear after a week of regeneration.

Planarians are fairly simple flatworms that live in water. It may be partly because of their simplicity that they can be cut up and regenerate successfully. It is not even important whether you cut them across the middle or from end to end, generally you will still end up with happy worms. They can even be cut up multiple times. Just 1/279th of a worm can grow an entirely new worm. The real secret to the worms’ powers of regeneration lay in the adult stem cells that make up 20% of their body. These cells retain the ability to form all sorts of new tissues throughout a worm’s life-cycle so can replace anything that has been lost even if it is the brain.

The new brain of cut planarians is of interest to many researchers. It is possible to train planarians to respond to certain stimuli and it seems they are able to remember this training – even after the brain the learned it has been cut off.

7 Spiny Mice Skin

Mammals are not famous for their abilities to regenerate. Once wounded they tend to heal slowly and often with a mass of scar tissue as the result. One group of mice from Africa however seems to have developed a way of avoiding this scarring.

Spiny mice are relatively small and fragile creatures. The stiff hairs on their coats may deter some predators but not many. It is when they are grabbed by a predator that they show off their special talent. They have skin that is easily torn and immediately on being grasped it automatically sloughs off. The predator is left with a mouthful of fur and skin while the mouse runs off to live another day.

Except that the escaped mouse may be missing a large portion of its skin. Over a relatively short period the mouse regrows its skin including the hair follicles, sweat glands, and other parts that are often destroyed in scarring. Scientists are hopeful that the genetic pathways used by spiny mice to regenerate tissues may be able to be activated in humans too at some point.

6 Sponges

Few animals would enjoy being pushed through a sieve or put in a blender but for sponges it is just another day in the lab. Sea sponges are among the most simple animals on the planet. They have no circulatory, nervous, or digestive systems. Their cells are largely undifferentiated and can change into a number of types over the course of a lifetime. But sponges have one big trick that allows them to thrive.

If you break up sponges into individual cells then the cells will begin to clump together again. If the groups of cells have the right make up of cell types then they will be able to grow into a full sponge. If you break up two sponges and mix their cells together then the cells from each individual are able to identify their own and will separate on their own.

This ability to regenerate from fragments is helpful in the ocean where bits may be broken from a sponge by the action of waves. The small bits of sponge can then be carried to new habitats and set up home there.

5 Lizard Tails

Autotomy is the process where an animal amputates one of its body parts. This is often done to help an animal escape a predator and one of the most famous, and slightly gruesome, examples is lizards cutting off their own tails.

Lizards are hunters and so have to go out in search of their prey but this exposes them to other animals in turn. If a lizard is grabbed on its head or body then there is not much they can do to escape but if a predator bites their tail then the lizard might have a chance. Many lizards have certain weak spots in their tail that can be weakened further by contracting their muscles. This separates the tail, vertebrae and all. The tail then falls off giving the lizard a chance to escape. Some lizard tails that have been amputated continue to wriggle to distract their attacker.

The lizard that survives losing its tail can grow another tail over a number of months. This new tail often differs from the original in that the bones that have fallen off do not regrow but are replaced with cartilage.

4 Antlers

Several species of mammals, like deer and moose, grow impressive pairs of antlers. These can serve a variety of purposes. Males grow antlers to help them fight with rivals for the right to breed with females but they can also be used to fight off predators and scrape up snow to get at food. Moose may also use their large antlers to help them hear. But many people do not realise that most antlers regrow every year – and it is a bloody business.

In spring male deer shed their old antlers and new ones begin to grow. The new antlers sprout from bony ridges on the skull and can grow incredibly quickly. The new antlers are covered with a soft fur known as velvet. Inside this velvet are blood vessels that feed the growing antlers with the nutrients they need. Once grown the cartilage of the antlers is replaced with bone and the velvet falls off in a bloody mass.

It seems that the ability of antlers to regenerate entirely after being shed is due to a type of adult stem cell not normally present in mammals.

3 Starfish

Starfish are complex animals with a relatively simple body shape. Most have a central disc with five or more arms that radiate from it. Underneath the arms are arrays of tube feet that allow the starfish to move and seek out food. The arms of the starfish however are fairly fragile and liable to get damaged or break off. What happens then is that the starfish then grows a new limb – or the severed arm grows a new starfish.

If the separated arm contains at least a portion of the central disc then it will likely be able to grow a new body. Most of the time a starfish will lose one of its arms to an attack. Sometimes the star fish will sever its own arm in an attempt to escape. If it is pulled off then it is more likely to carry part of the central disc away. If the predator does not then eat the arm the severed arm will crawl away to try and live another day with its new body.

Sometimes a young starfish may decide to reproduce asexually. Then it will break itself in half. Each half will regrow its missing limbs and the two copies go their separate ways.

2 Hydra

Hydra are miniscule water-dwelling organisms with a simple structure. They have a head with stinging tentacles and a foot that can attach them to solid objects. They live by capturing prey with their tentacles and forcing them into their stomach. Once their food is digested the hydra will push the remains out of their mouth because they have no anus. That may not sound like much of a life but hydra seems to make the most of it – they may well be immortal.

If you take a hydra and cut it in half then each half will regenerate into a smaller hydra. If you cut them up into many fragments then you might end up with many hydra. This is because most of a hydra is made up of stem cells, each with the ability to grow into an entirely new hydra. So long as portions of the protein skeleton of the hydra survive the cutting then the organism can reform perfectly.

The stem cells of the hydra also explain their immortality. Throughout their lives their stem cells keep replenishing themselves. As long a hydra is in a good and safe environment it will never grow old.

1 Axolotls

Regeneration is a trick common to many small organisms but it is far rarer in vertebrate animals but one, the Axolotl, is a master of it. These amphibians can regrow whole limbs, heal their spinal cords, regenerate their tails, and parts of their hearts and eyes. Their fantastic regeneration abilities have made them a model organism for scientists.

When some organisms regrow a body part the replacement is not as good as the original. In axolotls the regenerated tissue is indistinguishable from the original. The axolotls are able to do this by taking matured tissues like blood and muscles around the point of amputation revert to undifferentiated cells similar to stem cells. The stem cells then grow as if they were developing in new born axolotl. And they can do this any number of times. If you were a sufficiently sadistic researcher you could continue cutting off an axolotl leg forever and it would always grow back.

One thing the axolotls cannot regenerate is their natural habitat. Today they are found in only a few places near Mexico City.

10 Amazing Animals That Clone Themselves

The world has gone absolutely crazy for superheroes. There are tons of superhero movies in production and an endless supply of comic books as a ground zero source of inspiration. The comic industry has tried to capitalize on the success of heroes such as Batman, Spiderman, and Wonder Woman, but the results are not always so super.

Our list below will cover ten heroes whose powers are seemingly pointless. With so many attempts at creating new heroes, they can’t all be winners. Jazz, Squirrel Girl (seriously?), and the Almighty Dollar are just a few of the incredibly silly heroes that have been created over the years. Some of them even have catchphrases that are worse than their names and powers. Maybe these comic book editors are the real supervillains. So hunker down in your own “Fortress of Solitude” and get ready to marvel at some of the most pointless powers ever put in print.

Related: 10 Superhero Actors Who Have Their Own Tragic Backstories

10 Hindsight Lad

Hindsight Lad! Just saying his name brings a smile to my face. Marvel Comics created this hero. His name is very appropriate, and his powers are very pointless. Hindsight Lad has the incredible power of (you guessed it) hindsight. After various missions with his superhero pals, Hindsight Lad analyzes and understands how events could have played out differently. I guess his hindsight is 20/20?

Clearly, Marvel was scraping the bottom of the barrel when they came up with this one. To be honest, Hindsight Lad seems more like an annoying friend than a superhero. What’s next? Back-seat driver guy? The Grammar Corrector? Some of the other heroes on this list have even more pointless powers.

9 Cypher

Cypher has one thing that many heroes on this list do not: a cool name. With such a great name, it is too bad that his power is seemingly pretty useless. Cypher is one of the X-Men, like Wolverine, Storm, and Cyclops, but his power lies in linguistics. His mutation is that he can understand every language. While that may have seemed cool (or at least useful) at the time, now that we all walk around with Google translate in our pockets, he seems totally useless.

It seemed that Marvel came to the same conclusion in 1988 when he was killed off in a comic book. It turned out his story was not over because he came back to life in 2009. I think that a mutant power to understand different languages would barely qualify you as an X-Men, but I guess Professor X had to get his enrollment numbers up. Cypher’s very specific and rarely useful power makes him one of the most pointless heroes of all time.

8 Squirrel Girl

Yep, seriously, there is a comic book hero named Squirrel Girl. I am convinced that they only made this character because the name rhymes. There is certainly no other rhyme or reason to this character. Squirrel Girl is kind of like Aquaman, except her powers work above the ocean, and she can only communicate with one kind of animal: squirrels.

If you are in a squirrel or acorn-related emergency, this is the hero you want coming to your rescue. Otherwise, she is pretty worthless as far as heroes go. Squirrel Girl also takes on some of the powers of a squirrel. She can chew through wood, has a tail (for balance, I guess?), and has sharp claws. Squirrel Girl is a member of the Great Lakes Avengers, alongside another pointless hero on our list. Some of these heroes are crazy ideas, no doubt, but the creator of Squirrel Girl must have been totally nuts.

7 Almighty Dollar

Like many, Almighty Dollar is a hero who has a secret identity. However, his secret identity seems as though it would be pretty easy to crack. His name is J. Pennington Pennypacker, which is already a huge clue. Almighty Dollar also works as a CPA by day. You read that right; not only does Almighty Dollar have a name that clues to his identity, but he also works as an accountant!

Almighty Dollar can shoot pennies out of his wrist. Not only are his powers underwhelming and his secret identity not very secretive, but Almighty Dollar also has a cringeworthy catchphrase. When he’s hunting down his enemies (tax evaders?), he says he can “throw money at my problems.” As you may have guessed, this character did not stick around for long, and customers didn’t want to throw any pennies, much less dollars, at these comics.

6 Badrock

Many of the most recognized heroes from comic books are from the two biggest publishers, Marvel and DC. The next hero on our list was a creation of a much smaller company, Image Comics, as a part of their “Youngblood” series. At least, apparently. Badrock looks suspiciously familiar. This is because he is basically a copy of a much more famous hero, Marvel’s Thing. This means that his powers include super strength and resistance to damage.

However, this was not the only aspect of Badrock that Image Comics ripped off. Initially, Badrock had a better (or at least more logical) name of Bedrock. The creators of the Flintstones cartoons (Hanna-Barbera) contacted Image Comics, and they quickly changed the name to Badrock. Badrock’s catchphrase? “Yabba dabba doom.” Yikes. I think it is fair to say that the character of Badrock was yabba dabba doomed from the start.

Comic books and comic book heroes thrive on their unique qualities and creativity. Badrock had neither and simply made for a pointless hero.

5 Phone Ranger

A.G. Bell was just an ordinary telephone repairman. Yes, kids, that used to be a real job. He would travel from house to house, repairing home telephones. Until one day, his life totally changed! A.G. Bell was helping a customer fix their phone when he realized that the phone contained a message from an alien race. A.G. Bell created a super suit and a new persona using this alien technology. This is the origin story of the Phone Ranger, another Marvel hero on our list.

The Phone Ranger’s suit enabled him to connect to any telecommunications device. This allowed him to respond quickly to emergency calls. Unfortunately, his lack of useful powers led to an early death. While the Phone Ranger may have seemed like a cool idea at the time, looking back, it seems ludicrous. His special power was connecting with phones. Don’t phones do that anyway? While his origin story was much better than most on our list, the Phone Ranger’s powers were seemingly pointless and even laughable.

4 Razorback

The next hero on our list is one with regional roots. He is the hero of the state of Arkansas. Or he was designed to be, at least. Buford Hollis was a truck driver before he became the hero Razorback. Razorback has multiple powers, all of them with questionable utility. First, he has the “power” to drive, pilot, or operate any vehicle. He always names his vehicle “Big Pig.” While this is impressive, is it really a power?

His other power relates to the large hog head he wears as a head covering. It is electrically charged. Razorback is a clear attempt to pander to the state of Arkansas but was unsuccessful. Despite the best efforts of Marvel writers, including featuring Razorback in comics with Spiderman, She-Hulk, and other famous heroes, Razorback never achieved any of the same popularity. Maybe that is because he is a glorified cab driver with a silly hat.

3 Jazz

Jazz, or John Arthur Zander, is another Marvel hero with pointless powers. Jazz’s father was a genetic mutant who did not feel pain. Because he was not visibly a mutant, he could live in normal society. However, Jazz was not so lucky. He was born with blue skin. Maybe this was not so much of a “superpower” and was more of just a skin condition.

Jazz had a tough story arc throughout Marvel comics. First, he left home at 16, trying to become a famous rapper. He must not have been that great of a rapper because he was unsuccessful and eventually started dealing drugs instead. Finally, in one of the most pathetic deaths of a hero in comic history, Jazz was killed by another mutant, Johnny Dee, who created a voodoo doll of Jazz. Despite being branded as a mutant, Jazz had no useful powers and just suffered because of his blue skin.

2 Hepzibah

The next hero comes to us from another planet. Hepzibah is a Mephitisoid species, which means she is a humanoid with skunk characteristics. In fact, Hepzibah is not even her real name. Her real name cannot be pronounced because it is a series of smells. Hepzibah is a nickname by another comic book character, Corsair. Her powers are as strange as her name and origin.

She is acrobatic and has superhuman night vision and smell. Most uniquely, she can emit pheromones. Hepzibah has been embraced by the furry community for her animal characteristics, but overall, her powers are pretty useless. She definitely has an unforgettable look with a huge skunk tail. In recent comics, she has become more like a cat and less like a skunk. Her ears and tail may have changed over the years, but her powers remain mostly useless.

1 Mr. Immortal

The last hero on our list has a pretty dark origin story. As a young man, Craig Hollis was tricked into starting a fire by the villain Deathurge. The fire ended up killing both of Hollis’s parents. This obviously left Hollis feeling depressed. His depression led to suicide attempts. When Hollis realized he could not kill himself, Mr. Immortal was born.

He began to try and fight crime on his own. Eventually, he formed the Great Lakes Avengers along with Squirrel Girl. Mr. Immortal, as you might guess, cannot die. When he does, he is quickly resurrected, often with fits of rage. While this is certainly an amazing power, it is not very useful compared to flying, super speed, or superhuman strength. Mr. Immortal’s origin story is a sad one, and so is his superpower.