Russians Revive Ice Age Flower from Frozen Burrow

Russians Revive Ice Age Flower from Frozen Burrow

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MOSCOW (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 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.

(A Sylene stenophylla plant regenerated from tissue of fossil fruit. The plant has been regenerated from tissues found in a squirrel burrow that had been stuck in Siberian permafrost for over 30,000 years. It is the oldest plant ever to be regenerated and it is fertile, producing white flowers and viable seeds. (AP Photo/HO, the Institute of Cell Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences) Mandatory Credit)

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It really is quite amazing how far we have come scientifically, where we can successfully resurrect a living thing from tens of thousands of years ago. Not only is it impressive, but it also can offer a tangible idea of what life was like at that time, especially because this doesn't seem to be the last. I am thankful to live in a world where science and technology is constantly seeking and setting new heights.

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Still waiting for this to be done with dinosaurs.

Very cool, nonetheless.

Jurrasic park here we come

reply to post by boncho


But..then life will have to...find a way.

And then...

Wow, that's great! It may be far easier to revive the flora versus the fauna, and after all humans have destroyed, wouldn't it be ironic to bring back that which lived before modern man? I'd like to see a field of wildflowers...30,000 years in the making.

wow! wow humans must be gods . we can raise the dead!!!
well i guess that pic of the mammoth crossing the river was the russians first attempt!!! the pic is real!

reply to post by Resonant


seen this sumwhere before hmmm www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by TheGuyFawkes
reply to post by Resonant

 

seen this sumwhere before hmmm www.abovetopsecret.com...

Eep!

I did several searches before posting this, but evidently I missed that. Sorry.

How cool is that! I hope they look for medicinal properties this plant may have.

SQUIRREL!



Had to be done.


Scrat the ice age squirrel pic source

Wow, that is freaking cool. I would love to see this thing in person. It is beautiful, and that is just amazing.


Raist

Very interesting! I wonder what the consequences of cross pollination might be?

So thats it eh....

All the movies, all the warnings, all the flops at the box office...

And we have not learned one thing when it comes to genetic engineering and brining back species who were at the top of the food chain in their time period (and would be in ours)...

I suppose it was only a matter of time.. We have several scientists who are one lab accident away from being super heros anyways... It just seems backwards to me.. As a species we are killing off other animal species, while trying to bring species back that have been extinct for thousands / millions of years.

I think we should get our house in order first before introducing elements with unforeseen consequences into the equation.

Overall though pretty cool..

Originally posted by Xcathdra
It just seems backwards to me.. As a species we are killing off other animal species, while trying to bring species back that have been extinct for thousands / millions of years.

I think we should get our house in order first before introducing elements with unforeseen consequences into the equation.

Overall though pretty cool...

Normally I might agree, but I don't consider that this has any effect on anything else.

It's not like scientists can just be 're-purposed' into doing something more beneficial, and in some instances we might find this research will help those dying animal and plant species.

I think human race has also come a long way. We used to be afraid of touching anything dead due to consequences. Now we're afraid of altering anything living, but we have to take risks or else we will just stagnate.

reply to post by Pinke


Im all for research and finding solutions.. I just think when it comes to bringing species back that we need to be extremely careful. We can look at history and see what happens when an element is introduced to a situation that was not designed to deal with it.

Take Florida and their exotic snake issue. Since there is no known natural predator to the snakes, it has upset the balance in the area.

Research is fine and im all for it, however resurrecting species that have no natural enemies in this time period can have catastrophic effects. My other concern are advocacy groups who have in the past raided research labs and released the animals there.

I dont have faith in those groups to adequately grasp the consequences of releasing an "extinct" animal into the wild, and I dont have faith in the legal system enough to adequately understand the scientific implications should it go to court.

Without established safeguards and clear, precise rules / laws governing this new area, it would be like crossing Ebola with the common cold just to see what it could do.

reply to post by CrypticCryptid


Jeff Goldblum's great in that movie. Just reading wht you wrote
I can...um...hear his voice in uh in my head.

Originally posted by boncho
Still waiting for this to be done with dinosaurs.

Very cool, nonetheless.

Well, since we've proven irresponsible with inanimate destructive forces, I don't see how we can handle an ANIMATE destructive force.

Unless you're talking about stegosaurus and brontosaurus?

In that case...well, we might get stepped on, but hey, all in the name of science, right?

Well I suppose the quickest and easiest way to call BS is to say what form of test does Science have that has an accuracy rating of 30,000 years? I know they have nothing, so is this more hyperbole and spin? I know for a FACT it is BS! I aint blaming the OP for it, it's an AP story I am blaming the dumbass they calla Scientist and the other Dumbass they are calling a reporter in this story for not doing any homework. It's like the weatherman but worse, let's GUESS some crazy ass numbers and tell people it is true, they will believe us we have the Title Scientist. In my mind this dumbass has no title outside dumbass!

The world is NOT 30,000 years old, no one can prove it is by any recognized scientific method and this is just dumb all the way around. I wonder if this squirrel ever ran across the 2.5 million year old snail that was still alive or the Mammoth that had a front end die 45,000 years ago but the back end died 250,000 years ago. Poor Poor Mammoth having to wait around all those years for his other 1/2 to die.

Hyperbole and BS, they took a plant from maybe 4500 years ago and cloned it, WOW! how so VERY ordinary!

reply to post by Resonant


so will people now accept that seed banks [ kew , norway etc ] promise a viable method to reintroduce plant species ?