1,500-Year-Old Antarctic Moss Brought Back to Life

[skywizard]

Moss growing on Signy Island offshore of Antarctica.

Moss frozen on an Antarctic island for more than 1,500 years was brought back to life in a British laboratory, researchers report.

The verdant growth marks the first time a plant has been resurrected after such a long freeze, the researchers said. "This is the very first instance we have of any plant or animal surviving [being frozen] for more than a couple of decades," said study co-author Peter Convey, an ecologist with the British Antarctic Survey.

There is potential for even longer cryopreservation, or survival by freezing, if mosses are blanketed by glaciers during a long ice age, the researchers think. Antarctica's oldest frozen mosses date back more than 5,000 years.

The findings were published today (March 17) in the journal Current Biology.


Read Full Story: http://www.livescience.com/44134-old...s-regrows.html



peace...