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decadence
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"Fascinating Things I Find Online"

Post by decadence »

Of all the world records profiled on Extreme Science this one has proved to be the most elusive and tricky to keep updated. It seems there are a number of different organisms that hold the record for the "longest lived" and their exact ages are still under investigation. In fact, the only thing we can report for certain is that the records listed here will probably be upstaged by a new discovery in the near future. Below is a listing of what is currently in the literature as some of the oldest organisms still living today:

October, 1999; 250-million-year-old bacteria were found in ancient sea salt beneath Carlsbad, New Mexico. The microscopic organisms were revived in a laboratory after being in 'suspended animation', encased in a hard-shelled spore, for an estimated 250 million years. The species has not been identified, but is referred to as strain 2-9-3, or B. permians.

May, 1995; 40-million-year-old bacteria (Bacillus sphaericus) were found in the stomach of a bee encased in amber. These bacteria were also found in a state of suspended animation and were re-animated in a laboratory.

1997; King's Holly (Lomatia tasmanica) - found in the rainforests of Tasmania. Scientists estimated the age of the plant using a nearby fossil of an identical plant. It was found to be over 43,000 years old! The plants appear to be sterile - incapable of producing flowers and viable seeds. Lomatia is triploid, that is, it has three sets of chromosomes instead of two. Because of this it is unable to sexually reproduce. The clonal thickets reproduce vegetatively by root suckering. Fossil leaves found in a late Pleistocene deposit may be genetically identical to present-day plants. The plant is a rare freak of nature whose origins and age are as yet unknown.

August, 1999; Box Huckleberry (Gaylussacia brachycera) - researchers in Pennsylvania have discovered a living plant that is a remnant of the last Ice Age. Using the known rate of growth if this self-sterile plant, they estimated that this 1/4-acre colony is over 13,000 years old. Researchers are still trying to verify the growth rate to determine is that age is an accurate measure.

March, 2004; Eucalyptus recurva. Also known as "Mongarlowe Mallee" or "Ice Age Gum" it is the rarest Eucalypt in Australia or the world, and is known from only 5 individual specimens. Scientists in Australia are undertaking analyses to determine the exact age of one specimen that is estimated to be 13,000 years old. This aging method also relies on determining the plant's growth rate. Scientists are stilly verifying the growth and performing genetic analyses of neighboring specimens to determine if they are from the same organism.

April, 1980; Creosote bush (Larrea tridentata). Scientists discovered a giant, and very ancient clone of the creosote bush in the Mojave Desert in California they estimated to be between 11,000 and 12,000 years old.

:shock:
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Enkil
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Post by Enkil »

I welcome our new plant over lords.
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Post by Eternities End »

Anyone seen little shop of horrors? cuz I would expect plant overlords would look like this
http://www.movievillains.com/images/audrey2.jpg
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Post by Jesus Prime »

The black-and-white original was way better.

And, ahem... HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHIT, BATMAN!
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Post by E.A. Lovecraft »

There's a horror story tucked away in that info about prehistoric bacteria being revived.
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Post by Enkil »

The Blooooooooob liiiiives!
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Post by odin2 »

:shock: :shock:
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Post by Jesus Prime »

E.A. Lovecraft wrote:There's a horror story tucked away in that info about prehistoric bacteria being revived.
Maybe I'm getting a different idea to you guys, but would it be that lethal extinct diseases might be among them?
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Post by JJ Burke »

yeah, but how do you make the prehistoric element stand out? is it the story of the disease (a la outbreak), or how it was released? unless there's some kind of entity/monster involved, i don't know how to make good use of the prehistoric disease premise
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Post by Pinonomicon »

The symptoms disease could be something really bizarre (like brain mutations) that had a profound influence on prehistory, and unleashing it in modern times would have an equally catalytic effect.
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Post by Eternities End »

Jesus Prime wrote:The black-and-white original was way better.

And, ahem... HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHIT, BATMAN!
Meh the plants voice was really lame
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Post by E.A. Lovecraft »

JJ Burke wrote:yeah, but how do you make the prehistoric element stand out? is it the story of the disease (a la outbreak), or how it was released? unless there's some kind of entity/monster involved, i don't know how to make good use of the prehistoric disease premise
The prehistoric aspect would probably be limited to a little bit of archaeological evidence and some "wacko" scientist's ridiculed-theory-proves-true scenario.

It could work.
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Post by JJ Burke »

as a short story, i guess it could.. i was thinking more along the lines of a novel or a feature-length movie. for some reason
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Post by E.A. Lovecraft »

I think it would work as a novel as long as you didn't rely solely on the prehistoric aspect to drive the story.
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Post by Jesus Prime »

I'm thinking a "Call of Cthulhu" style piecing together of information, with the reanimated bacteria providing the final revalations. Maybe the journals of some scientist investigating in the rainforests, or maybe on a remote Pacific island could factor in - the last place where these bacteria where alive, possibly in geologically recent times so that the skeletons of the victims are still where they lay, not fossilised, so more can be learnt of the effects. I'm liking the idea.
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