Scientists Reveal The Miraculous Re-emergence Of A 32,000 Year Old Plant

An article written by Rachel Kaufman for National Geographic News states that the oldest plant to be successfully germinated has been from a 32,000-year-old seed. It was buried by an ice age squirrel near the Kolyma river in Northeastern Siberia. How ancient that seed could be!

The seeds were covered in ice 38 meters below the thick layer of soil that remained frozen for years. The immature seeds were capable of surviving. The tissues drawn out from the sources were successfully germinated and put into vials by the scientists.

These germinated seeds grew and bloomed and produced seeds of their own. What a miracle, indeed!

The discovery opened doors to the possibility that permafrost can be a place to find extinct species of plants that can still be restored and brought to life again. Uncovering the circumstances that maintained the seeds for roughly 32,000 years will help scientists conserve other grains for a prolonged time.

Not only does this raise exciting questions about plants' evolution, but this is also a reminder of the power of nature and the environment. To cling to life and bring new life even in the most unlikely circumstances!

A Tiktok video by @pattrn also highlights this discovery and has gained 28.7K views with lots of engaged viewers.

 

@pattrn #learnontiktok #science #moreyouknow #environment #climatechange #sustainablity ♬ original sound - PATTRN

 

Maybe you can relate to one commenter, @Candy.Girll, " And I can't even keep a plant alive for a week."

Who else thought similarly to @Esoteric Bred, " That lil squirrel from the ice age." (laughing emojis)

"The main plant had managed to survive this time gap due to some very fortunate conditions, which are, one that it was probably dry when it was stored. And that it was deep enough down in earth because something must have happened, which we don't know what it was, that buried it very deep. So, now that permafrost soils in Russia are defrosting, we are finding testimonies of these ancient times which we do not even expect to find." Margit Laimer, a plant biotechnologist from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, remarks.

She even added, "We hope that we can find changes in genes that allow plants to adapt to very dry or very cold or very hot conditions and to use this knowledge, new piece of knowledge that we can create for new plant improvement."

This discovery is just incredible!