Reviving The Extinct

We got a little closer to Jurassic Park in 2012.
A team of scientists brought a 30,000 year-old Siberian Pleistocene plant (Silene stenophylla) back to life. This is by far the oldest plant brought back to life; 2,000 year-old date palm seeds held the previous record. The scientists claim that the seeds of the Pleistocene plant were in permafrost for the entire period of time, which acted as a giant freezer, leaving them undisturbed and unthawed. This research represents a landmark discovery that biological material can be revived after laying dormant for tens of thousands of years, and may be an important development in the quest to revive other species, including species that are currently extinct.

Full article: http://www.pnas.org/content/109/10/4008

Oh jeez, this is... pretty amazing. What would you bring back from an ancient age?

The implications are comforting. Unless you happen to be human. In which case everything I am about to say isn't:

This suggests to me that the planet is probably able to endure conditions that will kill off all sentient life, and then start over again with plant life once it is all dead. This would be a good thing to do if you had a species on you that was killing you. You'd only ever get ill before you became such a mess that that species that was making you ill died. Then, you could start again. The only ones that seem to be fucking themselves is us. That seems fair.

Felixxilef wrote:

The implications are comforting. Unless you happen to be human. In which case everything I am about to say isn't:

This suggests to me that the planet is probably able to endure conditions that will kill off all sentient life, and then start over again with plant life once it is all dead. This would be a good thing to do if you had a species on you that was killing you. You'd only ever get ill before you became such a mess that that species that was making you ill died. Then, you could start again. The only ones that seem to be fucking themselves is us. That seems fair.

Remarkably fair, and hilariously grim. Thanks.

Always glad to liven up someone's day...