Environment

Scientists Resurrect 30,000-Year-Old Plant Using Genetic Material From Frozen Tissues Found in Siberia

MOSCOW (The Blaze/AP) — It was an Ice Age squirrel’s treasure chamber, a burrow containing fruit and seeds that had been stuck in the Siberian permafrost for over 30,000 years. From the fruit tissues, a team of Russian scientists managed to resurrect an entire plant in a pioneering experiment that paves the way for the revival of other species.

The Silene stenophylla is the oldest plant ever to be regenerated, the researchers said, and it is fertile, producing white flowers and viable seeds.

30,000 Year Old Seeds Germinate Into Viable, Flowering Plant

Regenerated Sylene stenophylla. (Photo: AP/Institute of Cell Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences )

The experiment proves that permafrost serves as a natural depository for ancient life forms, said the Russian researchers, who published their findings in Tuesday’s issue of “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” of the United States.

“We consider it essential to continue permafrost studies in search of an ancient genetic pool, that of pre-existing life, which hypothetically has long since vanished from the earth’s surface,” the scientists said in the article.

30,000 Year Old Seeds Germinate Into Viable, Flowering Plant

Regenerated Sylene stenophylla. (Photo: AP/Institute of Cell Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences )

Canadian researchers had earlier regenerated some significantly younger plants from seeds found in burrows.

Svetlana Yashina of the Institute of Cell Biophysics of the Russian Academy Of Sciences, who led the regeneration effort, said the revived plant looked very similar to its modern version, which still grows in the same area in northeastern Siberia.

“It’s a very viable plant, and it adapts really well,” she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from the Russian town of Pushchino where her lab is located.

She voiced hope the team could continue its work and regenerate more plant species.

But the New York Times points out that the claim, which some experts say appears legitimate, could still be called into question:

“This is an amazing breakthrough,” said Grant Zazula of the Yukon Paleontology Program at Whitehorse in Yukon Territory, Canada. “I have no doubt in my mind that this is a legitimate claim.” It was Dr. Zazula who showed that the apparently ancient lupine seeds found by the Yukon gold miner were in fact modern.

But the Russians’ extraordinary report is likely to provoke calls for more proof. “It’s beyond the bounds of what we’d expect,” said Alastair Murdoch, an expert on seed viability at the University of Reading in England. When poppy seeds are kept at minus 7 degrees Celsius, the temperature the Russians reported for the campions, after only 160 years just 2 percent of the seeds will be able to germinate, Dr. Murdoch noted.

The Russian research team recovered the fruit after investigating dozens of fossil burrows hidden in ice deposits on the right bank of the lower Kolyma River in northeastern Siberia, the sediments dating back 30,000-32,000 years.

The sediments were firmly cemented together and often totally filled with ice, making any water infiltration impossible – creating a natural freezing chamber fully isolated from the surface.

30,000 Year Old Seeds Germinate Into Viable, Flowering Plant

Cartoon squirrel from the movie Ice Age. (Photo: Ice Age)

“The squirrels dug the frozen ground to build their burrows, which are about the size of a soccer ball, putting in hay first and then animal fur for a perfect storage chamber,” said Stanislav Gubin, one of the authors of the study, who spent years rummaging through the area for squirrel burrows. “It’s a natural cryobank.”

The burrows were located 125 feet (38 meters) below the present surface in layers containing bones of large mammals, such as mammoth, wooly rhinoceros, bison, horse and deer.

Gubin said the study has demonstrated that tissue can survive ice conservation for tens of thousands of years, opening the way to the possible resurrection of Ice Age mammals.

“If we are lucky, we can find some frozen squirrel tissue,” Gubin told the AP. “And this path could lead us all the way to mammoth.”

Japanese scientists are already searching in the same area for mammoth remains, but Gubin voiced hope that the Russians will be the first to find some frozen animal tissue that could be used for regeneration.

“It’s our land, we will try to get them first,” he said.

The headline of this post was updated to more accurately reflect the research. 

Comments (117)

1 2
  • justangry
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:14pm

    Um, so they thawed out an old seed, they found then planted it? Holy crap the Russians just discovered the freezing point. What am I missing here?

    Report Post » justangry  
    • MammalOne
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:41pm

      They didn’t grow it from seed, they used the embryonic (fruit) tissue to clone it. That‘s why it’s so cool – the tissue was still in good shape 30,000 years later.

      Report Post » MammalOne  
    • FreedomPurveyor
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 3:02pm

      One day they’re going to bring back the wrong thing

      Report Post » FreedomPurveyor  
    • Chuck Stein
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 4:03pm

      @ Freedompurveyor
      I laughed at your post. Then I thought a bit. I’m not laughing now.

      Report Post »  
    • jb.kibs
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 6:01pm

      it’s true. that plant along could be the “wrong thing”. it could take over other plants and be poisonous to bees and other insects… just saying.

      Report Post »  
    • koyettsu
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 6:43pm

      I just hope it isn‘t prone to some crazy disease we haven’t seen in 30,000 years.

      Report Post »  
    • AOL_REFUGEE
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:05pm

      Next thing you know, this cute little plant will turn out to be a body snatcher and, after all these evolutionary years, we’re finished. Doh!

      Report Post » AOL_REFUGEE  
    • TunaBlue
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:39pm

      Jurassic Park, but this time for real. Start with a plant and then go to the DNA of the T-Rex.

      Report Post »  
    • Captain Crunch
      Posted on February 22, 2012 at 1:49am

      Lets hope they don’t have any of Hitlers DNA. Obama is bad enough.

      Report Post »  
  • RightThinking1
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:14pm

    Coming soon to a zoo near you- Wooly Mammoths!

    Report Post »  
  • AmericanStrega
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:13pm

    I love Scrat! He was the best character on “Ice Age”?

    Report Post »  
  • The American
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:13pm

    Ummm, we have those flowers here in Maine every spring!

    Report Post »  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:03pm

    .
    Thats all we needed another Weed……….

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
    • Gonzo
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:13pm

      Yea, it could be the new super kudzu that swallows the Earth and chokes out all life, just in time for the Mayan calendar to run out.

      Report Post » Gonzo  
    • USAMEDIC3008
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:47pm

      Our only hope…
      can you smoke it.

      Report Post » USAMEDIC3008  
    • SpankDaMonkey
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:11pm

      .
      I’m with you USAMedic if it were only a Marijuana Plant…….

      Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
    • TomFerrari
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:17pm

      LOL, I’m w/ Gonzo. Kudzu or Spanish Moss. oh, yay.

      Funny how the same people who preach evolution and “natural selection” are the same ones who run around trying to undo the “survival of the fittest.”
      Monkeying with genetics and playing God WILL lead to disasterous outcomes… if it hasn’t already.
      (Think honey bees – africanized/‘killer’ bees or think monsanto patented, dominantly agressive, corn.)
      YIPES!!
      No, thank you. I’ll stick with heirloom varieties. Besides, they taste MUCH better!

      Report Post » TomFerrari  
    • GhostOfJefferson
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:51pm

      @Tom

      Honey bees were not native to North America, they’re a European bee brought over by the English. They’re an import, just like the African bees.

      I do tend to agree that resurrecting extinct spieces is a bad policy. Not because I’m against the science, I’m not, rather because things go extinct for a reason. It sounds in this case though like it is just an earlier form of an already existing plant, so probably no harm no foul in this case.

      Report Post » GhostOfJefferson  
  • TOPOFTHEGAME
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:01pm

    The earth is just over 6,000 years OLD not 30,000 years. It’s just like Nephilim of Genesis chapter 6 which tells why the earth was destroyed by ““the flood””". It was the contaminated blood line in Mary’s blood line to Jesus.God said, Noah was perfect in HIS generations..also only Noah‘s three son’s, ALL others died. The scientists in the world don’t want to believe that the Bible is true and reliable……………. Their government funding would be cut off for research………………..

    Report Post »  
    • MammalOne
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:17pm

      lolololol oh my god please never breed.

      Report Post » MammalOne  
    • trolltrainer
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:22pm

      Awesome rebuttal there mammalone!

      Report Post »  
    • MammalOne
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:27pm

      @trolltrainer sorry to not formulate a series of highly cited arguments – that would take a series of large books. I didn’t even know where to start with that comment so I thought I would just throw out a blanket suggestion that would do us all a favor.

      But this is all really good stuff, I love the comments on the Blaze about science. I literally laughed out loud.

      Keep it up, y’all.

      Report Post » MammalOne  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:47pm

      If people don’t see the earth then does the earth exist? If people didn’t notice the planet around them, then does it exist? If people didn’t realize they existed, then would they notice the planet? Therefore it wasn’t the planet that was created in six days, but that it was people realizing the planet in six days. Yet it wasn’t even six days, no, it was one day or 1000 years. When God first said “Let there be light.“ Yet ”Man“ of mankind had not yet been created ”In” God’s image. Then God created Man in God’s image and man saw that he was separate from other aspects of the planet. When did man see man was separate from other aspects of the planet? When it began to rain. Therefore when God separated the waters below the firmament from the waters above the firmament, that is when he placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, before it began to rain pain and discomfort.

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • MammalOne
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:54pm

      @itsjusttim “If people don’t see the earth then does the earth exist?” Yes. Blind people can’t see the earth but I doubt any of them think the earth disappeared. Even when I have my eyes closed, i know the world exists. I can’t just close my eyes and walk off a cliff. Think about it.

      “If people didn’t notice the planet around them, then does it exist?” It might. Just because you‘re not paying attention to something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

      “If people didn’t realize they existed, then would they notice the planet?” This question literally makes no sense. If I don’t realize I exist, then I obviously would not be conscious which means I am not processing sensory information which means I couldn’t notice anything.

      I swear I’ve time traveled back to the stone age…

      Report Post » MammalOne  
    • PlowMan
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:03pm

      Mammalone, if you don’t like the comments on the Blaze I have an idea, DON’T READ THEM!! I happen to agree with this person and the approximate age of the earth. I have no solid proof but I don’t think the so called proof we teach our youth today is solid either. I guess when we pass from this earth we will know for sure. In the mean time I am not sure why folks such as yourself get so bent out of shape when your beliefs are questioned and then a discussion breaks out.

      Report Post » PlowMan  
    • starchy
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:35pm

      @plowman – do you really believe the earth is only 6000 years old? Believing in God should not change the fact that we have carbon dating that traces the earth back much, much older than that. Don’t believe that carbon dating is accurate? How about looking at the fossil record? Just one look at the different layers found in the Grand Canyon, and the species of animals that have come and gone in that time, should tell you that the earth is older than 6000 years old.

      Report Post » starchy  
    • scarebear83
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 3:18pm

      Starchy, first scientists have to “guess” which strata they found the fossil in. If it’s under “10,000″ years then they could possibly use c14 dating. If it’s pressumed to be older than that then they try to use other dating methods to get the date they want. It’s almost circular reasoning, Fossil A was found in 4-10 million strata so let’s calibrate the dating technique to fit it. Well the dating technique confirms that the fossil we found in the 4-10 million mark is indeed in that era. If not then the data must have been contaminated. It’s not good science to manipulate the data to get the outcome you want, the data should speak for itself.

      Report Post » scarebear83  
    • trolltrainer
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 3:18pm

      Starchy,

      First, carbon dating is used to date carbon based artifacts (things that were once alive) and is only reliable for as far back as ~10,000 years although there is an automatic error built into even this. You need other radiometric dating procedures to go back the “millions” of years you have in mind. Any creationist worth anything can explain to you that these dating methods are based on three assumptions and that they do not spit a date out of a computer but rather yield results that are subject to interpretation using these assumptions.

      The fossil record supports creation and a young earth. It shows extinction and stasis, not evolution. Some of the oldest fossils known match critters running around today. Why have they not “evolved?” Evolution has many more problems explaining the fossil record than creationists do.

      Likewise, the layers of the Grand Canyon seem to suggest layers of sediment laid down in very rapid succession. In fact, creationists use the Grand Canyon as one of the biggest pieces of evidence for a global flood. Do some research on the Kaibab Upwarp or polystrate fossils. Both of these are evolutionary impossibilities if these layers were laid down over eons of time.

      Many animals have gone, but there is really nothing new under the sun. People can play with names but in recorded history we have no “new” plants or animals, only adapted versions.

      Report Post »  
    • @leftfighter
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 5:20pm

      I agree with starchy here.

      The fact that the Earth isn’t eally 6,000 years old changes virtually nothing. I’ve posted on the Blaze before about String Theory and how, using sciene, one could prove the Earth was created both in 7 days & septillions of years at the same time. (hint: time is elastic & only relevant to the one perceiving its passage).

      In other words, if you started at the Big Bang travelling at the right speed, you could have witnessed a 7 day creation. If you’re travelling slow enough (or in the opposite direction at sublight speed), then it takes one heckuva lot longer (yes, that’s a scientific term).

      I can’t remember the name of the theory off the top of my head, but there’s one that postulates that the Seven Day Creation refers to seven distinct periods of time, each twice as long as the day that it precedes. If you look at it (I think the Seventh Day was something like the last 60,000 years), it actually lines up fairly accurately with how science believes it all happened.

      My point is, don’t make fun of someone who holds fast to the 6,000 year old Earth theory, but don’t hold fast to it either.

      As Socrates said: “True knowledge lies in knowing that you know nothing.”

      Or as Agent K put it: “1500 years ago, everybody knew that the Earth was the center of the universe. 500 years ago, everybody knew that the Earth was flat. And 15 minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you’ll know tomorrow.”

      Report Post » @leftfighter  
    • Windrider
      Posted on February 22, 2012 at 9:51am

      I believe in creation as well. However, I remember reading somewhere in the Bible that for God, a blink of the eye is like unto a thousand years. Now if you give the blink of an eye a value of .7 tenths of a second and you do the math, that one day equates out to 61 million years. It took God 6 days to create everything. That works out to about to about 3.7 billion years. Seems that the earth has been dated to about 4 billion years. In the grand scheme of things, thats pretty close.

      Report Post »  
    • scarebear83
      Posted on February 22, 2012 at 3:00pm

      Windrider, ask yourself this though, if death didn’t enter until man sinned then God lied. Because in order to combine the Bible and evolution together you’d have to say that animals and organisms died for billions of years and in doing so all theistic evolutionists make God the liar. As for the verse you were implying, 2 Peter 3:8, is almost always taken out of context. First of all it’s not saying a day IS a thousand years, but AS a thousand years. Peter is using simile here. If you read the verses before and after verse 8 you’ll realize that Peter is reminding Christians to not worry about “scoffers” who will come and ask where is the promise of Jesus’ return? Because wether it’s a day or a thousand years God will keep His promise. Time does not affect God’s promise, when He promises something He’ll do it just not on our timetable though.

      Report Post » scarebear83  
  • Kankokage
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:57am

    Satan‘s greatest trick was not convincing the world he doesn’t exist, but rather finding a way to turn truth (religion) against truth (science). I look forward to scientists bringing a wooly mammoth and other Ice Age holdovers back…but I’m not actually convinced they are all extinct.

    Report Post » Kankokage  
    • MammalOne
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:20pm

      where exactly would wooly mammoths be living that we wouldn’t have noticed them?

      Report Post » MammalOne  
    • trolltrainer
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:23pm

      You apparently didnt see the video? lol…

      Report Post »  
    • Kankokage
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:25pm

      We thought coelocanths were extinct. They weren’t. The arctic region isn’t exactly highly populated, you know, and is not well explored; there is an awful lot of planet up there to hide in. I’m not saying they definitely are still alive, only that I’m not absolutely convinced they are totally extinct.

      Report Post » Kankokage  
    • Kankokage
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:33pm

      That mammoth video was so fake as to be stupid. Apparently, as part of their persistence over the millennia, wooly mammoths have begun transitioning out of normal space time, rendering them blurry.

      Report Post » Kankokage  
    • chips1
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:43pm

      That’s how Obama was elected. He is blurry.

      Report Post »  
    • GhostOfJefferson
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 2:37pm

      @Mammalone

      Belize

      Report Post » GhostOfJefferson  
  • AmericanStrega
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:56am

    Great. So when will they finally dig up and grow something that ends up killing a large majority of the human and/or animal population? Geez Beav, can’t wait!

    Report Post »  
  • MammalOne
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:54am

    But – but – but… I thought the earth was only 4,000 years old! My pastor would never lie to me!
    ;)

    Report Post » MammalOne  
    • cessna152
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:07pm

      Genesis 1:1-2 (NLT)
      In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. [2] The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. And the Spirit of God was hovering over its surface.

      Ummm, where does the Bible say the Earth is 4000 years old? How long was the Earth “cloaked in darkness”? We don’t know and it is estimated the earth is 10,000 + years old. How do these scientists know these seeds are 30,000 years old?

      Report Post » cessna152  
    • AmericanStrega
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:12pm

      In reply to CESSNA152:

      They may have used carbon dating. Or, maybe they just pulled a W.A.G. (Wild A$$ Guess)?

      Report Post »  
    • MammalOne
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:19pm

      They used a combination of sedimentary analysis and isotope dating along with comparing the species of fossils around the site.
      Oh that’s right, fossils are fake too because the earth is really too young for organic matter to decalcify. Must have been satan!

      Sometimes I feel like i’m living in the 14th century.

      Report Post » MammalOne  
    • cessna152
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:08pm

      14th century? I assume because I don’t believe in man made global warming am I 14th century? Just because someone does not believe what a lying scientist says does not make them 14th century..Have you looked at the track record of scientist these days? Being paid off, bullied by BIG governments to say certain things,etc. Sorry, it‘s my belief that I explained and being slandered shows I’m probably correct.

      Report Post » cessna152  
    • MammalOne
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 3:25pm

      @Cessna what are you talking about? Global warming? Who said anything about global warming? I am a scientist (a neuroscientist actually, i study the effects of macular degeneration and glaucoma on the visual cortex) and I’m very skeptical about the concept of “man-made” global warming myself. I don’t know where that comment came from…

      My comment about being in the 14th century came from the fact that any time a scientific study is mentioned on this site, everyone starts talking about god. The spiritual-based approach to trying to understand and explain the world is unacceptably archaic. (i.e. drilling holes in people’s heads to “let the demons out”, saying that thunder is thrown by Zeus, etc.).
      Science is not a belief system, its a process by which people collect evidence for different hypotheses and debate incessantly about what the evidence suggest (key word, suggest – not prove). It‘s not perfect but it’s gotten us lightyears farther than sacrificial temples ever did.

      Report Post » MammalOne  
    • Komponist-ZAH
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:11pm

      14th century, B.C.

      Report Post »  
  • jsciai
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:54am

    Pretty interesting stuff here. But, like all science it could be used for good or bad. The world adapts and develops in a way that is natural as set up by God. When man tries to alter that system it is almost always with trade-offs both good and bad. However, just think of the good the resources allocated to do this experiment could have been used.

    Report Post » jsciai  
  • chips1
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:50am

    It survived 30,000 years, yet it will never survive Michelle’s garden.

    Report Post »  
  • democritusoilder267
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:50am

    You have to love what we can do with science and technology today.

    Report Post » democritusoilder267  
    • trolltrainer
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:25pm

      Yep! Scientists have now even reached the level where they can plant seeds! Awesome!

      Report Post »  
  • Bassplayer9512
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:49am

    As a horticulturalist i find this story fascinating.

    Report Post »  
    • WhiteFang
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:55am

      What would be involved with this? Wouldn’t it just be a matter of drying out the seed and planting it?

      Does it take a scientist to do this, or could a farmer do the same thing? Just plant the seed and watch it grow.

      Report Post » WhiteFang  
    • Gonzo
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:08pm

      Seeds have a shelf life Fang, I’m sure it was more involved than that.

      Report Post » Gonzo  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:48am

    How about regenerating something tastey to eat guys. T-Rex burgers, yummy.

    Report Post » Gonzo  
  • momrules
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:47am

    Hmmm……….Wasn’t that recent picture of a supposed mammoth in Siberia? Now they are growing a 30,000 y/o flower and ” looking for mammoth remains in hopes of regenerating them?

    Just what are the Russian scientists up to in Jurassic Park?

    Report Post »  
  • Itsjusttim
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:43am

    Liberals like to harp on the idea of an achievable perfection, and they really like to harp on their own academia. Here’s one for you liberals since you like academia so much, and while I could develop an equation for it I’m not. Since everything regarding the universe is a mathematical equation, and X and Y both extend either direction into infinity, and let’s say perfection is a point on the grid, then the point can be anywhere, and therefore perfection is unachievable. Additionally the point on a grid can only be appreciated if it is viewed from another point on the grid aside from the point which is viewed. Therefore Liberals, you are a point on a grid stuck within itself, and you can not appreciate your own location.

    Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:56am

      So you see liberals, it is as if you are living inside a point on a grid, and you can only see as far as the shell of your own existence.

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:58am

      That’s right liberals, you are in a living Hell.

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • trolltrainer
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:33pm

      sounds to me like you are harping on liberals in a story that has nothing to do with politics? Get out much?

      Report Post »  
  • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:43am

    Let me know when you can clone a wooly mammoth, then I will be impressed.

    Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
  • Kankokage
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:43am

    I for one think it’s awesome.

    Report Post » Kankokage  
  • RJJinGadsden
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:40am

    Just wonder how much frog DNA they had to use in this resurrection?

    Report Post » RJJinGadsden  
    • chips1
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:52pm

      First you have to measure the length of its tongue.

      Report Post »  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 3:40pm

      CHIPS1, Just in case you didn’t catch it. That is a Jurassic Park reference where the scientists went wrong and allowed the cloned dinosaurs to develop it’s own male sex from a park all female requirement. The short reference just shows that things go wrong.

      Report Post » RJJinGadsden  
  • Blacktooth
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:38am

    The article said; “the revived plant looked very similar to its modern version, which still grows in the same area in northeastern Siberia.”

    So the only thing this proves is that old seeds can survive for long periods of time. Our Creator knows what he is doing. All we can do is observe his marvelous works.

    Report Post » Blacktooth  
    • Bassplayer9512
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:52am

      30,000 years is a long time and it is more interesting on the stand point of genetics and how the plants DNA could have changed over the course of that time.

      Report Post »  
    • Kankokage
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:01pm

      That deep underground in dense permafrost would likely reduce or even eliminate most mutagens such as gamma radiation from elemental decay (and certainly radiation from the sun). As such the DNA may be practically intact – which may also be the reason the seeds didn’t degenerate. Simply sticking seeds in a freezer above ground would not provide the same shielding effect as frozen tundra.

      Report Post » Kankokage  
    • chips1
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:49pm

      As long as it keeps my beer cold, I have no complaints.

      Report Post »  
  • dmerwin
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:38am

    Cool story.

    Report Post » dmerwin  
  • HorseCrazy
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:35am

    while I love plants and find this somewhat interesting, I have lost respect or even tolerance for 90% of the science and scientists these days. what does this benefit anything? just more mad science.

    Report Post »  
    • AmazingGrace8
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:53am

      Science does have its place in the world trying to figure out all of God’s Creations. In light of Russia’s poverty status when thousands of women have to prostitute themselves in order to eat…I can only look at the beautiful flowers of this plant and think of the “Lost Petals” of Russia’s society structure.

      Report Post »  
    • MammalOne
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:55am

      This particular project showed the viability of regenerating preserved organic tissues way older than we ever thought possible. Just in case you were wondering.

      Report Post » MammalOne  
    • HorseCrazy
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:06pm

      mammolone, I get that. my folks are both scientists and I took the easy road and sell commercial real estate as I like money instead of years of school for a phd. This in my opinion is about prioritizing. I do believe we have all known for many years that cold can sustain and preserve. I wish we would dedicate more energy and time to current issues that an produce change now. as for russia and the former soviet union, people all over the world are starving not just over there. In most cases it has absolutely nothing to do with agriculture but with corrupted governments and civil wars, not freezing seeds to use later.

      Report Post »  
  • bree001
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:35am

    Not sure this will cure world hunger, but very fascinating. http://www.brendasblog7.com/home-page

    Report Post »  
    • MammalOne
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:01pm

      Are you suggesting that the only thing botino-geneticists should work on is curing world hunger? You do realize we produce enough food to feed everyone, right? It’s a distributional problem, not a production one.

      Report Post » MammalOne  
  • hi
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:29am

    Wow!Looks just like the plant in my backyard!

    Report Post » hi  
    • JBaer
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:38am

      I was thinking the same thing.

      Report Post » JBaer  
    • honor007
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:57am

      I have some plants that look exactly like this growing around my waterpond??? I don’t know what they are called, but I am about to find out. I wonder how many people will die to protect this plant?? sheesh?

      Report Post » honor007  
    • honor007
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:02pm

      looks just like star of bethlehem!!!

      Report Post » honor007  
  • broker0101
    Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:28am

    A plant five times older than the Earth? Hmmmmm. Discuss among yourselves.

    Report Post » broker0101  
    • democritusoilder267
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:49am

      What do you mean “a plant that is 5 times older then Earth”? The age of the Earth is 4.54 billion years as confirmed by modern science. Hopefully you were joking.

      Report Post » democritusoilder267  
    • Michael
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:49am

      I don’t understand the big deal here….Plants go dormant every winter here buried under feet of snow and then return every spring….

      Report Post »  
    • TheObamanation
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:59am

      Plants sure have evolved

      Report Post » TheObamanation  
    • trolltrainer
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:43pm

      TheObamanation
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:59am

      Plants sure have evolved
      ———————————————–
      Lol, that was my first thought! Then I started contemplating ice age squirrels…

      Report Post »  
    • chips1
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:58pm

      Have they evolved enough to vote Democratic?

      Report Post »  
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