Scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences have grown this flowering plant (Silene stenophylla) from tissue scraped from a fruit that was preserved in Siberia for more than 31,000 years.
According to scientists, this flower last bloomed when mammoths walked on Earth. It's the oldest flowering plant ever grown from reserved tissue.
The scientists that grew this plant found the fruit in a burrow that was believed to have been stuffed in by a squirrel around 31,800 years ago. Windblown silt had closed the entrance to the burrow, causing everything to be frozen inside and kept dry 38 meters under the ground.
When the scientists scraped the tissue from the fruit, they bathed it in nutrients and it grew into fertile plants with healthy seeds that sprouted in soil.
It's definitely a remarkable project. To know that something from 31,000 years ago is alive today is almost mind blowing. I can't wait to find out what scientist will bring back to life next (if they haven't done so already).
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