Question: can cells travel through time

Matthew Tomlinson answered on 12 Nov 2013:

Well, time travel is theoretically possible, according to general relativity, so if you accelerated a cell fast enough to travel in time then it should be able to do so.

Of course it depends on how you define travel in time, a really common type of cell we use in cell biology is the HeLa cell, these cells are cervical cancer cells that came from a woman in America called Henrietta Lacks in 1951. Mrs Lacks died later that year but the cells grew really well and were sent all over the world. They have been used in lots of different experiments, like the development of a vaccine for polio and are present in many cell culture labs. So in a way, these cells, from a person who died in 1951, have travelled through time.

Also, there are some recent reports of dinosaur cells which have been taken from a piece of fossilised dinosaur bone (I think T rex), these have definitely travelled in time!