
Human cells have a built-in timer, that affects its age. When you grab some cells from your body and place them in a laboratory dish, they'll begin to divide, getting weaker, and eventually die.
But the cells of Henrietta Lacks possess a disconcerting anomaly... When place in a laboratory dish, they keep divinding, dividing, divinding... and never die! Her cells are biologically immortal.
And don't think this is a recent discovery - she died over 50 years ago, in 1951.
In fact, her cells have been used in the development of the polio vaccine. You may very well be alive today because of her - many millions are.
Via [Disenchanted]
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