Global - Technology - Review

Thanks to arctic squirrels who did a great job of storing their seeds and nuts 30,000 years ago, Russian scientists have been able to cultivate plants from  that time.  This opens the possibility that other matter preserved in the permafrost could be 'reactivated' to recreate fauna from the Ice Age. 

The plant material was found 125 feet below the present surface of the ice and it is likely that frozen animal tissue could also be preserved in the same area.

The Silene stenophylla is the oldest plant ever to be regenerated, the researchers said, and it is fertile, producing white flowers and viable seeds. It is possible that other plants that have long since disappeared could be grown and who knows what valuable medicinal value they could have.

Researchers are looking for preserved animal remains and the ultimate goal is to find frozen mammoth tissue that can be used to generate cells from which a mamoth can be recreated.