How did this moss survive all these years?
Scientists first realized that they could potentially revive the moss when they noticed that the moss looked remarkably fresh. This discovery caused many questions and theories to be tossed around by scientists.
After many tests and experiments on the moss to discover its longevity secret, scientist Peter Convey finally concluded that the moss has adapted to Antarctica's extreme climate so it can survive. One hypothesis is that the moss goes into a hibernation state and produces proteins that act as an anti-freeze to the cold. Convey concluded by saying that, "If you can get to 1,500 years, what's the possibility of surviving an entire glacial cycle?"
Read More at:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/1500-year-old-antarctic-moss-brought-back-to-life/
NOS:
- Science is subject to debate and is tentative
- Science is based on evidence
- Science is collaborative
This is a really interesting article, i read this and i thought it was really cool how the moss actually adapted to the arctic climate to survive. I found another article on this topic and it started talking about possibly using this technology to start reviving more endangered species, they even speculated attempting to revive mammoths. If you are interested in reading it, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/science/a-growth-spurt-at-1500-years-old.html?_r=0
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ReplyDeleteThis is a super interesting article. I read another article with a little bit more information about the moss. It explains a little bit more about how the moss was revived, and a little bit about the history of moss. It also talks about how the moss contained on the ice for 1500 years. A fact I found interesting was that, previously, microbes and plant genetic material have been resurrected from ancient Siberia permafrost. The material was more than 20,000 years old.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to it: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0317/Scientists-revive-1-500-year-old-Antarctic-moss
This is remarkable, most living things wouldn't be able to react fast enough to survive and change to accommodate a climate like this.
ReplyDeleteThe article was very interesting, this could lead to more discoveries for organisms that were trapped in ice during the glacial cycles. It's pretty interesting how we can revive species, and it would be really cool if we could revive species that are already extinct. Scientists had revived a species of wild goat, but it couldn't adapt to modern day climate and surroundings so it went extinct again. There could be drawbacks to this since the species may be invasive.
ReplyDeleteHere is my article:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/125-species-revival/zimmer-text