Dead for 32,000 Years, an Arctic Plant Is Revived

I thought this was absolutely fascinating and had to share it with everyone.

www.nytimes.com...

Living plants have been generated from the fruit of a little arctic flower, the narrow-leafed campion, that died 32,000 years ago, a team of Russian scientists reports. The fruit was stored by an arctic ground squirrel in its burrow on the tundra of northeastern Siberia and lay permanently frozen until excavated by scientists a few years ago.

This would be the oldest plant by far that has ever been grown from ancient tissue. The present record is held by a date palm grown from a seed some 2,000 years old that was recovered from the ancient fortress of Masada in Israel.

I didn't think it would be possible for a seed to survive for so long, especially in the carcass of a squirrel. Mother nature never ceases to amaze me.

This reminds me of "Jurassic Park" even though the circumstances are much different. Maybe one day we will find the seeds to a plant we never knew existed that can cure disease. Discoveries like this leave me to wonder what else is out there for us to find.

Even amidst all the doom and gloom there are still some good things happening.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


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How do we know this is a good thing?

What if this plant turns out be be evil?

For instance it pollinates in ways we dont know and wreaks havoc in the local environment, displacing existing flora and leads to a massive die off of animal species that have adapted to the current ecosystem.

Or more likely is that it is in fact a man eating plant/animal hybrid that was hunted to extinction by our ancestors 30, 000 years ago in a massive worldwide battle for planetary supremacy.

OK maybe not but Im not so sure its a good thing, I cant think of one example of an introduced plant or animal species being good for local environments.

S&F coz its interesting none the less

Originally posted by mytheroy
reply to post by Corruption Exposed

 

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Yep just as I thought.......

Looking at this pic its blatantly obvious this plant is up to no good.

Let me be the first to welcome back our plant overlords

Looks cute, but do they know if it still looks cute full grown.. maybe in the past they would name it apocoliptia aparatus...?

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff


The thought of it escaping into the wild and becoming and invasive species did cross my mind. I guess this is always a concern.

Let's hope this plant mutates and eradicates all the GMO crops

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff

How do we know this is a good thing?

What if this plant turns out be be evil?

Exactly! It didn't bode well for the squirrel!

But it could be a GREAT thing as well. As long as the scientists are taking proper precautions, then I'm glad they are doing the work.

Im just gonna point out (unless I missed it in the article) the seed wasnt found in the carcass of a squirrel, but in his burrow. There is heart attacks and asthma attacks in this story that make it strange. nice find OP


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

nature SELECTED IT them for extinction

how can we have the SLIGHTEST idea.... what to expect..


btw this sounds like a sequel for "the thing"

reply to post by strafgod


Thank you for the correction

I misread and thought it was actually found in the squirrel, but the article does say burrow.

Either way, I'm still impressed that the seed didn't turn out to be a dud after 32,000 years.

Originally posted by Question Fate
nature SELECTED IT them for extinction

how can we have the SLIGHTEST idea.... what to expect..


btw this sounds like a sequel for "the thing"

edit on 2/20/2012 by Question Fate because: (no reason given)

It's a Campion, it has living relatives. I think they probably had a pretty good idea what to expect. It looks little different from the other types of Campion that grow in the hedgerows round these parts. Also, it's only really going to be an invasive species if they try to introduce it into parts of the world that it never grew in, otherwise it's just a case of the reintroduction of a once native plant.
I wouldn't worry too much Lol, Campions are pretty benign - at least, I don't know of any man-eating varieties.

peace
J

Nice story BTW, thankyou for posting it.
peace
J

reply to post by Question Fate


Lol, please explain how nature selected it for extinction?

Slightly off on a tangent, but given that we have now proven that seed dormancy can be unlocked even after 32,000 years, without it being stored in a controlled environment, this could mean that if we do wipe ourselves out as a species, the next sentient lifeform that evolves to take our place could, theoretically, discover our seed banks (Norway or Kew), and recreate our plant enviroment without us.

reply to post by Biliverdin


Well thats the whole point of the seed vault. To protect those seeds through thick and thin for a very long time.

Originally posted by IkNOwSTuff
How do we know this is a good thing?

What if this plant turns out be be evil?

For instance it pollinates in ways we dont know and wreaks havoc in the local environment, displacing existing flora and leads to a massive die off of animal species that have adapted to the current ecosystem.

Or more likely is that it is in fact a man eating plant/animal hybrid that was hunted to extinction by our ancestors 30, 000 years ago in a massive worldwide battle for planetary supremacy.

OK maybe not but Im not so sure its a good thing, I cant think of one example of an introduced plant or animal species being good for local environments.

S&F coz its interesting none the less

edit on 20-2-2012 by IkNOwSTuff because: (no reason given)

Why do you think it will be released to the public before study's?

Originally posted by Biliverdin
Slightly off on a tangent, but given that we have now proven that seed dormancy can be unlocked even after 32,000 years, without it being stored in a controlled environment, this could mean that if we do wipe ourselves out as a species, the next sentient lifeform that evolves to take our place could, theoretically, discover our seed banks (Norway or Kew), and recreate our plant enviroment without us.

Farther off tangent still, what if this particular plant has a 32,000 yr reproductive cycle?
Or similar to a nematode, it comes out of dormancy only when humans reach a critical mass to whittle us down to a managable size?

I generally trust and like most plants tho. But still they might want to do studies in small biospheres first before releasing this to the wild.

reply to post by VonDoomen


Jurassic Park quote, dude. Seriously, i was waiting for someone to quote that whole speech...

reply to post by getreadyalready


lol watch one of these prehistoric plant be evolved to create animal wrecking prions.

Theres not a doubt in my mind that we might stumble upon a plant that was TOO effective at protecting itself.

Well, the idea that they brought it to live after 32,000 years is really remarkable! On the other hand, the consequences of being in the wild somehow is another story.

I don't think this is going to be the plant that will destroy earth but we all know how so many diseases we have today came to be, our awesome scientists have screwed things up! I just hope this isn't one of those screw ups!

Cheers!

Awesome Post,

I don't know how concerned I am about this flower becoming an invasive species, but what might be a logical area of concern is what if the seed isn't the only dorment thing to come out of the squirrels burrow? For instance could that plant have contained in it a bacteria that is also capable of "hybernation" which also remained protected from say some extinction level event? Just a thought. Thanks for posting it!