In Florida and New York, several universities concluded a genomics study of shark DNA and found that their unique genes are responsible for the reason they heal quickly when wounded and why they are more resistant to cancers than humans. Their evolved immune systems have allowed their genes to change over time (we are talking hundreds of millions of years of evolution) to help them heal quicker and fight off cancer. Researchers hope to study their genetic properties further to see how this can translate to human genes and if it can help us biomedically.
Don’t go out and buy a bunch of shark for dinner tonight, though, as researchers warn eating tons of shark would just do more harm than good due to their high mercury content. In fact, overfishing, which is already an issue in many oceans around the world, can lead to a loss of sharks which wouldn’t help anyone.