| In 2012, using technology straight out of science fiction, scientists revived a 32,000-year-old plant found buried in Siberian soil. This seemingly impossible task was accomplished by cloning the genetic material contained in frozen fruiting tissue within the plant. A new study, published the other day in Current Biology, has something to say about this, however. It may actually be far easier to resurrect some plants. Scientists may not have to do any fancy scifi magic to bring certain plants back from the dead. In fact, they may only need heat and water. Researchers were able to revive a 1,600-year-old Antarctic moss using just that, only heat and water. The moss, Chorisodontium aciplyllum (don't ask me to pronounce it), is now the oldest multicellular organism revived to date. This isn't really an accomplishment for science. The scientists didn't really do all that much, just gave the moss a bit of water and some warmth, nothing the average 1st grader can't do. Instead, this is testament to the hardiness of life itself. |
Buried on Signy Island, the thawed moss started greening with new shoots after only three weeks of light care in a UK laboratory. The ease with which this plant was revived, the researchers wrote in the study, is a sign that "the potential clearly exists for much longer survival."The finding could help scientists re-evaluate how we decide whether an organism is alive or dead.
And, much like the recent revival of a previously unknown form of giant virus in Siberia, this discovery hints at the possible repercussions of climate change. Should the ground continue to thaw in regions of Alaska, Russia, and Greenland, we may see the reemergence of a number of organisms with astonishing survival skills.
