The Seeds That Time Forgot
Rea,
Have you ever found something in the back of your freezer that’s been there so long you can’t remember when you put it there? What if I told you scientists found something in nature’s freezer that had been there for 32,000 years — and it was still good?
In 2007, a group of scientists were digging in the frozen ground of Siberia when they found something odd: an ancient squirrel’s burrow buried deep in the ice. These weren’t just any squirrel burrows — they were food storage chambers that got buried by an ancient flood and frozen solid.
The squirrels had packed these underground chambers with seeds and fruits, kind of like how we pack our pantries with snacks. But unlike our snacks, these seeds never got eaten. Instead, they got frozen at just the right temperature and stayed that way for thousands of years.
Here’s where it gets good: in 2012, some Russian scientists decided to try something that seemed impossible. What if they could wake up these ancient seeds? The seeds themselves were too damaged to grow, but the scientists found some living cells inside the frozen fruit. They took these cells and grew them in dishes in their lab.
Want to know what happened? The cells grew into plants — the exact same kind that had been frozen for 32,000 years! The plants looked just like their modern relatives until they bloomed. Then the scientists noticed something different: the flowers had longer petals that were spaced further apart than today’s versions.
The plants didn’t just grow — they thrived. When the scientists planted their seeds, every single one sprouted. That’s even better than seeds from modern plants, which only work about 90% of the time.
These plants are time travelers. They’re showing us exactly what flowers looked like when woolly mammoths were walking around. It’s like getting a message in a bottle, except the bottle was a frozen squirrel’s pantry, and the message was a living thing.
Maybe the next time you find something in the back of your freezer, you’ll wonder: what else might be out there, frozen in time, waiting to wake up?
Love, Abba
P.S. Want to know something cool? The scientists think the plants survived so long because they were full of sugar that worked like a natural antifreeze.
