Feb 28 2008Doomsday Seedbank Is Ready For Storage

Hmmm, I can imagine the comments on Digg already. Remember boys and girls marijuana is magical. There's no ill effects. Ever....ever.

the millennium seedbank at kew in greater london has been doing this since 2000 and recently took its billionth deposit.

http://www.kew.org/msbp/index.htm

Better not let Monsanto hear about that, they'll stick a few of their own GM altered seeds in their and then try and sue the Norwegians for stealing their patented product. Scum.

How long do Seeds actually last though?

Skeps:

Seeds last for a surprisingly long time. Take the Judaean date palm, for example, believed to have been extinct for almost two thousand years, archeologists uncovered some seeds in an excavation in Israel a few decades ago. It was hypothestized that they could be germinated, but nobody was allowed to try until 2005, when sure enough, they sprouted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judean_date_palm

looks like they are taking the better safe than sorry route on global warming/apocalyptic predictions- i'm glad that they are, even if it never needs to be accessed. having someone on earth willing to spend some cash to do something that might save future generations is refreshing. and having it done now, before it is too late, is likewise encouraging.

@em: the kew seed bank is massive, and a great program, but this one serves an additional purpose- it is meant to survive a catastrophe, whereas the london collection is just a conservation effort.

@Skeps
I turned over our front garden and had flowers sprout that hadn't been actively planted in that thing for over four years.

Good look with deposit yours :lol:

As a Norwegian, I just had to post about it too - always because I've been at Svalbard:
http://www.terella.no/2008/02/29/norway-opening-global-seed-vault-at-svalbard/

#2: hmm...billionth deposit eh? Give me a few days and I can make it their trillionth ;)

Joking aside though, I'm glad that someone's doing this sort of thing. It's great. And yes, seeds can last a VERY long time (save animal seeds).

You can even eat a seed, then shit it out and plant it, and it will still grow! (kudos to my biology book)

So... the whole human race is gone, and the only thing left of us is the fact that we locked away... seeds?!

...Why not make a small city out of that shit with a renewing air source, etc, so the human race can live past "doomsday" too?

D:

I think the idea is a good one, but the execution is somewhat odd. They built the seed vault facing the ocean. Don't they know that the ice caps are going to melt, thus flooding the whole thing? Maybe that's the whole idea. Like a really big post-apocalyptic chia pet.

#11: It's doomsday for a reason: we won't live past it.

Yes, the movie "Titan A.E." is now one step closer to prophocy!

Lol. If Doomsday really happens in the future, u can bet on it that several people will take refuge in it, who will then populate the Earth.. hopefully.

so yeah, animal seed too.

it looks very nice....i like it.

This is a massive waste of money. Come on a nucular strike is going to wipe out all the seeds and anyone will be left to care?