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Extinction may no longer be a permanent fate. Silene stenophylla, a plant that has been extinct for over 30,000 years, was just brought back into existence by Russian scientists, raising questions about which species might be one day revived as well.
A frozen fruit of the plant, an ancient relative of chickweed, was found in a squirrel burrow that predates the ice age. Using growth hormones, scientists were able to revive the fruit's tissue and grow it until it was capable of producing a flowering plant.
If global warming continues to melt the Siberian permafrost, similar burrows such as these may be found. This suggests that scientists may soon be able to revive other long extinct plants as well. But the scientists who brought back silene stenophylla are thinking even bigger.
"If we are lucky, we can find some frozen squirrel tissue," said Stanislav Gubin, one of the researchers responsible for the discovery. "This path could lead us all the way to mammoth."
[Image credit: Yashina, et al]
This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca
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