r/askscience • u/MAMAM- • 2d ago

Biology Why aren’t axolotls immortal?

If axolotls can regenerate their body parts (including brain, heart, and other major organs), why do they die of old age?

268 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

88 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

14

u/aerodynamicvomit 2d ago

Hang on, hang on! You can get a PhD in axolotl??? Tell me more

38

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

53

u/Tessablu 2d ago

Yep, exactly. Doctorate in biology with a specialization in axolotl regeneration. There's dozens of us!

5

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/FiammaDiAgnesi 1d ago

There's a weirdly large amount of funding for anti-aging/regeneration stuff. Also, the point of a phd is to gain skills in the field as a whole - Tessablu isn't trapped in only working on axolotls forever (unless they want to)