Via Science Magazine, we learn some fascinating news:  a group of biologists and botanists have managed to grow a palm tree from a 2000-year old seed!

In 1963, archaeologists excavating King Herod’s fortress near the Dead Sea uncovered a small number of date palm seeds.  The seeds waited 40 years more in storage until a research team decided to date them and, seemingly almost on a whim, plant one.  After 8 weeks, the ancient seed germinated into a date palm, named “Methuselah” after the oldest person in the Bible.

Even more intriguing is the possibility that the palm may represent a species which had officially gone extinct!  By the time of the Crusades, date palms had vanished from the Dead Sea region, and the missing palm may have been a distinct species.  (In which case, the regrown palm should probably be renamed “Lazarus“.)  Tests are ongoing to determine if the date palm is a distinct species.

Hmm… using science to recreate extinct species?  Don’t these people watch movies?  Don’t they realize that the plants will inevitably turn on their creators and attempt to eat Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern!!??