Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. During a dive off the coast of Southern California in 1979, ...

Researchers found that two individuals of a type of comb jelly can fuse and become one with a shared nervous system and digestive system. It has implications for animal regeneration and immune systems ...

A little more than a year ago, while biologist Kei Jokura was in Woods Hole, Mass., he routinely walked down to the water, scanning for comb jellies. "They look like a jellyfish," he says, "but ...

Armed with the ability to accept all cells as its own, comb jellies can merge with others to survive. Here’s how it works. On a quiet summer day at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, ...

Comb jellies, the delicate bells that pulse their iridescent bodies through the ocean, are some of the strangest creatures on Earth. “They are the aliens of the sea,” said Leonid Moroz, a ...

For almost two decades, scientists have debated whether sponges or comb jellies are the first animal lineage. Now some are ...

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Late one summer ...

“While maintaining a population of M. leidyi in a seawater tank, we noticed an atypically large individual with two aboral ends [referring to the area farthest from the mouth] and two apical organs ...

Were sponges or comb jellies the first to split from the animal family tree? A new approach at settling this question, which is critical to understanding the evolution of animals, points strongly to ...

And now, news of a tiny, transparent creature that can pull off a stunning trick - two individuals can fuse to become one. Here's science reporter Ari Daniel. ARI DANIEL, BYLINE: A little more than a ...