# Realy, REALLY old seeds bloom! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 21, 2012, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505 "2012-02-21T06:03:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/1 "2012-02-21T06:03:30Z")
Scientists have successfully bloomed flowers from seeds frozen in the permafrost 30 _thousand_ years ago! > **[Ancient plant brought back to life after being buried by squirrels in...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2103936/Ancient-plant-brought-life-buried-squirrels-Siberian-permafrost-30-000-years-ago.html)** > > The breakthrough means some long-gone early lifeforms could still be held in the frozen wastes - and dormant life found on planets like Mars could be revived. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/2 "2012-02-21T11:17:37Z")
First, that is so cool. Thanks for posting. Second, I can’t believe it just hit me - your username. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/3 "2012-02-21T23:01:51Z")
The story at [nytimes.com](http://nytimes.com) says that the carbon dating has yet to be confirmed and that in another similar case the seed turned out to be a contaminant and not really the old seed. The science on this discovery is looking good to date. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/4 "2012-02-22T03:18:39Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Second, I can’t believe it just hit me - your username. :smack: Now, something relevant to my username sounds apt here: > [@H. P. Lovecraft](#): > > That is not dead which can eternal lie. > And with strange aeons even death may die. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/5 "2012-02-22T03:24:34Z")
Well now, I heard on public radio this afternoon that carbon dating _has_ confirmed the announced age of the seed. Doesn’t impress me though - I’ve got seeds older than that in my refrigerator. Besides, what they got to germinate is just some old weed. Couldn’t they find something more ornamental or startling, like a plant that snags and eats wooly mammoths? ---
**Author:** ![LegsAkimbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f1d935/32.png) [@LegsAkimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegsAkimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/6 "2012-02-22T03:49:38Z")
As I always wonder when I read about things like this, what do those folks who continue to insist that the world is only a few thousand years old do when something like this comes up? I think this is extremely cool. And, well, it never occurred to me that there were squirrels around back then. Shows what I know. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/7 "2012-02-22T04:05:42Z")
from what i read they didn’t sprout a seed. they cultured frozen plant tissue. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/8 "2012-02-22T04:20:55Z")
> [@LegsAkimbo](#): > > I think this is extremely cool. And, well, it never occurred to me that there were squirrels around back then. Shows what I know. Didn’t you see those animated “Ice Age” documentaries? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/9 "2012-02-22T04:22:03Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Couldn’t they find something more ornamental or startling, like a plant that snags and eats wooly mammoths? Followed by the [inevitable meteor shower](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triffid). ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/10 "2012-02-22T05:16:12Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Now, something relevant to my username sounds apt here: Also cool ~ but I don’t feel bad for not ‘getting it’ until now. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/11 "2012-02-22T16:46:46Z")
> [@LegsAkimbo](#): > > As I always wonder when I read about things like this, what do those folks who continue to insist that the world is only a few thousand years old do when something like this comes up? They insist that carbon dating isn’t accurate, or gives misleading results. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/12 "2012-02-22T21:29:39Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Scientists have successfully bloomed flowers from seeds frozen in the permafrost > 30 _thousand_ years ago! > > [Ancient plant brought back to life after being buried by squirrels in Siberian permafrost 30,000 years ago | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2103936/Ancient-plant-brought-life-buried-squirrels-Siberian-permafrost-30-000-years-ago.html) Thank you for posting this. An article in Science 158, 1967 documents the germination of 10’000 year old lupine seeds. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/13 "2012-02-23T01:04:55Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > They insist that carbon dating isn’t accurate, or gives misleading results. Or that God just “created them old.” It’s getting pretty hard to rationally argue against the multitides of ways that science is showing that basically everything is older than the young earthers say it can be, so the obvious answer is that it was just created that way. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/14 "2012-02-23T03:15:44Z")
I guess that if God took all that effort to make it look like things are that old…it would behoove us to pretend that we believe that they are really that old. God is all powerful, right? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/15 "2012-02-23T10:43:08Z")
Now that these old seeds have been germinated, can the bad SyFy movie be far behind, where they were actually mutants/dangerous, and are going to take over the world? ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realy-really-old-seeds-bloom/613505/16 "2012-02-23T23:46:56Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > from what i read they didn’t sprout a seed. they cultured frozen plant tissue. I’ve seen this account too. The details, wherever I read them, sound more likely than the seed germination headlines. Here is one account. [How scientists brought 30,000-year-old flower back to life - CSMonitor.com](http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0221/How-scientists-brought-30-000-year-old-flower-back-to-life) “[they] did not germinate the seeds directly, but took immature fruit tissue and cultured it in a nutrient-rich goop.” I had a couple of graduate courses in horticulture and did some in vitro propagation. This sounds about right.