This is one is something you definitely don’t hear every day. Scientists in Russia discovered a store of seeds and fruit that had been preserved in the frozen banks of a Siberian River. The frozen seeds from this cache of ancient goodies have now been regenerated and using modern agricultural techniques which has been published in the Feb 21 issues of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Fossilized squirrel burrows are regularly excavated during archaeological digs to obtain information about plant materials and food sources available in a specific and time period. In this instances the squirrel had lined the burrow with fur and hay which in the Siberian permafrost created the perfect stasis chamber freezing the fruits and seeds in perfect condition.
The excavated burrows cache were then amazing found to be viable tissue samples which were extracted and combined with modern agricultural propagation technology to bring back to life which amazingly is still fertile and bloomed with white flowers and seeds. The plant has been named Silene stenophylla.
