Scientists have gotten increasingly better at reviving previously living organisms preserved by deep freezing, spurring a section of science called "resurrection ecology." For the latest frozen specimen, 1,500 year old moss near Antarctica, researchers not only revived it back to life but coaxed growth, the New York Times reported.
The moss was found in the form of permafrost on Signy Island, an offshoot of Antarctica. Permafrost is a layer of brown, permanently frozen (unless drilled into by scientists) organic material which sits below a thin layer of growing green moss. Because of the harsh environment, no trees grown on Signy Island -- just moss.
After drilling into a section of Signy's permafrost, researchers were surprised to see moss shoots, indicating that it still had signs of life and was capable of growth. Though they remained skeptical -- moss that had been frozen for 20 years or more had never been revived before, much less the 1,500 year old sample with which they were working -- they transported the section to a lab and attempted to revive it by alternating a lamp with occasional misting. A few weeks later, the moss sprouted new sections of green.
"Who would have thought you could have done this?" Lawrence J. Weider, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Oklahoma, asked the Times. "'Jurassic Park' was one thing, but we're talking about real animals, real plants, real organisms that have been suspended for very long lengths of time."
Resurrection ecology is an exciting field for scientists mainly because of the possibility of bringing extinct animals back to life. The ultimate prize is the wooly mammoth due to their mythic proportions and the number of well-preserved specimens, given the beast's arctic habitat.
