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Botany: Scientists grow plant from 32,000-year-old seed

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https://www.earthlymission.com/scientists-revive-32000-year-old-plant-siberia-permafrost/

Earthly Mission said:
The oldest plant ever to be “resurrected” has been grown from 32,000-year-old seeds, beating the previous record holder by some 30,000 years.

Back in 2007, a team of scientists from Russia, Hungary and the United States recovered frozen Silene stenophylla seeds and remains from the Pleistocene, while investigating about 70 ancient ground squirrel hibernation burrows or caches, hidden in permanently frozen loess-ice deposits in northeastern Siberia, in the plant’s present-day range.

Using radiocarbon dating, the age of the seeds was estimated at between 20,000 and 40,000 years, dating the seeds to the Pleistocene epoch. Rodents would normally eat the food in their larders, but in this case a flood or some other weather event got the whole area buried. Since the rodents had placed the larders at the level of the permafrost, the material froze almost immediately, and did not thaw out at any time since. More than 600,000 fruits and seeds thus preserved were located at the site.

Years later, a team of scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences went on to successfully revive one of them: a flowering plant from a 32,000-year-old fruit!

...
 

ChaseJxyz

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That's rad! The Pleistocene is my jam and I always love seeing things from it be brought back.

I can't imagine how long the seeds at the Svalbard Seed Vault can be viable if they were able to do this with a seed stored in less than ideal conditions.
 

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That's a great site.

Insect Siesta: Tired Bumblebees Fall Asleep Inside Flowers
While many species of wild bees sleep in flowers regularly, honey bees usually work in shifts and sleep and nap in the hive although they may well stay out if they lost their bearings during the day’s foraging.

Bumblebees, on the other hand, flap their wings as fast as 200 times per second. In addition, they have an extremely fast metabolism, so they have to eat almost non-stop! It’s no wonder that they get tired and direly need a nap in the middle of the day. And honestly speaking, the way they fall asleep right on top of a fragrant flower is one of the most charming things ever.
The pics are indeed adorable. :)
 

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