Immortal Worms make a splash

Aziz Aboobaker was one of the first scientists I started following for the Test Tube project back in 2007.

His explanation of "Immortal Worm" research remains the most watched video in Test Tube's short history.

So it was great to see him and a colleague publish a notable paper this week, which has attracted the attention of scientists and mainstream media alike.

Here's the short video I did with Aziz to explain the latest news.



My only disappointment as an outsider is that the gene has such a boring name - Smed-prep.

For the sake of YouTube, I've been trying to convince Aziz to let me give it a better nickname, like "The Immortality Gene" or "Hydra Gene" (because of the head whole re-growth thing).

Aren't I just a typical sensationalist journalist!? But as a typical scientist, Aziz is happiest when it's just called Smed-prep!

Either way, it's still pretty fascinating stuff.

Here is Aziz's appearance on the BBC World Service.

And the paper itself can be found here.