Russian Botanists Revive 36,000-Year-Old Plant Specimens from Permafrost Discovery
Fourteen years ago, a remarkable achievement took place when a group of Russian botanists managed to regenerate 36 specimens of Silene stenophylla from ancient fruit samples that had been preserved in the permafrost for between 40,000 and 60,000 years, thanks to squirrels burying them. This groundbreaking feat exceeded previous records by more than tenfold, with the placental cells extracted from the frozen fruit radiocarbon dated to an astonishing 29,800 years BCE. Sadly, the lead researcher behind this remarkable regeneration, David Gilichinsky, passed away just before the findings were published, missing the opportunity to share his incredible work with the world.












