Scientists regenerate a plant -- 30,000 years later

wow wow wow wow wow - that is a.w.e.s.o.m.e!!

30,000 year old seeds!

Amazing!

@Sushi

Better yet, extinct plants may provide clues to the earth's conditions 31,800 years ago (plus minus several hundred years).

If the scientists can grow several types of seeds from these squirrel burrows, Russia may have a new museum, a museum of extinct plants revived!

It starts with this. Next, they are going to be growing dinosaurs.

Very interesting. Hopefully nothing negative comes in reintroducing a plant species long since extinct. The potential applications for this kind of thing are pretty amazing.

My modern seeds quit growing after 12 months.

These ones can still grow after 30,000 years.

I'm wondering if those Russian & Japanese scientists can get that mammoth up and running that they dug up in Siberia a few years back.

Nothing better to scare schoolkids with than a 30,000 year old mammoth running amok! :-)

Squirrels are the coolest animals out there. Wish there were more in Japan, but apparently they were eaten.

Sit down and watch them sometime. They can be quite tame.

So thank you squirrels one and all for your good deeds.

I agree with Sushi, this is amazing.

DUDE! Sin semilla from Colombia? Mexico? Vancouver?? RIGHT ON! Bring back the good old daze when the air was clean and sex was dirty?? Can not wait to see what other bad ass seeds they bring back from the dead, like far out dude!

@JapanGal

Can't agree more! Lost hidden treasures of super-cool squirrels! Like them a lot, sadly haven't seen so many in Japan.

@SushiSake3

the 30'000 year old seeds seemed to be as bad as your "modern" seeds. They grew the plant from the fruits' tissues...

@Ben_Jackinoff

It starts with this. Next, they are going to be growing dinosaurs.

Part of developped plant cells are still totipotent, much more difficult to get those totipotent cells from dead dinosaurs... so I guess that won't happen very soon. Don't worry about dinosaurs escaping wild animal park or having to change your barbecue for a XXL one, you won't be able to finish to eat your maxi-size-dinosaur-steak anyway ;)

So thank you squirrels one and all for your good deeds.

Meh. They're nothing but bushy-tailed rats. Take a look at a picture of one, then imagine the tail has no hair. Instant rat.

This is very cool. I wonder if we'll have a chance to put some in our garden?

This must be a mistake. All those republicans running for the presidency say the earth is only about three thousand years old. So how can they have a 30,000 thousand-year-old plant? Eh? It MUST be a mistake. So take that stoopid scientists.

This must be a mistake. All those republicans running for the presidency say the earth is only about three thousand years old. So how can they have a 30,000 thousand-year-old plant? Eh? It MUST be a mistake. So take that stoopid scientists.

Only a very small minority of Christians believe the Earth is 6,000 years old. Don't stereotype the whole based off the idiotic statements of a very small but vocal minority.

They better be careful not to let the seeds get to the wild. They're technically introducing a "new" species to the environment (the old is new again). And we know how destructive that may be to the native species.

Cool news. Go, Russian scientists!