2000-Year-Old Judean Date Tree Seed Sprouts

Makarand writes "A date palm seed found during archaeological excavations at King Herod's palace on Mount Masada, near the Dead Sea, and whose age was confirmed to be 2000 years by carbon dating techniques has sprouted into a young tree.This historic seedling which sprouted 4 weeks after planting has grown six leaves and one has been removed for DNA tests. Scientists hope that the unique seedling will eventually yield vital clues to the medicinal properties of the fruit of the Judean date tree chronicled in the Bible and the Quran and which was long thought to be extinct."

Re:jurassic park anyone?

[CableModemSniper]

Yes, any second now the date tree is going to escape its pen and go on a murderous rampage. It will also change genders in order to breed with itself and produce more deadly date trees.

Re:jurassic park anyone?

[youknowmewell]

Yes, the crazy choastition predicted this from the beginning. This is clearly a raping of mother nature.

Re:jurassic park anyone?

[Erbo]

I dunno...we seem to have enough trouble with plants that are current species but that get introduced into new environments. A good example is the giant hogweed [invasivespecies.gov] (Heracleum mantegazzianum), which was brought from the Caucasus in Russia into Europe and now infests portions of the U.S., and is pretty nasty stuff. (It was immortalized in a Genesis song from their progressive-rock days, "The Return of the Giant Hogweed." [lyricsfreak.com])

Not that this date tree will necessarily be as bad, mind you.

Re:jurassic park anyone?

[ikkonoishi]

Or the kudzu in the southern United States.

http://overstated.net/photos/kudzu/kudzu-car.jpg [overstated.net]
http://images.google.com/images?q=kudzu [google.com]

That sort of thing can happen in under a year. This stuff grows fast and it was imported from Asia because of that for use in erosion control. It turned out to absolutely love the climate down here and it exploded out of control.

It actually is not that bad of a plant. It isn't poisonous and doesn't cause allergic reactions nor does it have thorns. You can make tea out of t

Slashdot Dorks

[Seumas]

Slashdot Dorks saw the words "date tree". Got the wrong idea. Thought, momentarily, they may still have hope! ;)

Does this remind anyone else of the Lorax?

[I(rispee_I(reme]

"It's a Truffula Seed.
It's the last one of all!
You're in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds.
And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs.
Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care.
Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air.
Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack.
Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back."
-Dr Seuss

At last!

[mister_llah]

Now they can discover the secret to death of old age at age 35!

Yessss!

plant has a sense of humor

[moosesocks]

God, it would seem has a sense of humor.

From TFA:
"The Judean date is chronicled in the Bible, Quran and ancient literature for its diverse powers -- from an aphrodisiac to a contraceptive"

Re:plant has a sense of humor

[mnmn]

And each virtue exactly when you dont need it.

It will be used in a new chemical warfare that will be FAR more painful and inhumane. Entire generations will be lost this way.

Re:plant has a sense of humor

[idiot900]

An aphrodisiac and a contraceptive? It would seem more like God has a sense of BEING AWESOME.

Re:plant has a sense of humor

[alta]

Amen!

Extinct species = pure hype?

[RobotWisdom]

How come I can't find any reference on the Web to this supposedly extinct species? Could it be that the discoverers wanted to make a plain old ordinary 2000yo date-pit sound more glamorous?

Re:Extinct species = pure hype?

[bergeron76]

Judean date is actually a "date in time" not a "date" type of fruit. The parent should be modded as funny; not insightful - he didn't understand the post!

Re:Extinct species = pure hype?

[cataclyst]

Yeah, it's from the date of the palm...

First line of TFA talks about the DATE PALM tree. Smooth...

Uh oh...

[bergeron76]

Perhaps this is the "second coming" !

Re:Uh oh...

[reklusband]

hmm, x86 apple. last of the star wars prequels, boston winning, now a dead seed from the desert returns. Well, at least we won't have to deal with another season of American Idol. I for one welcome our new date masters.

Re:Uh oh...

[Mr2cents]

> Perhaps this is the "second coming" !

Pff.. I had my second coming at the age of 12.

Will MY code still run 2000 years later?

[Stardate]

I guess if we keep the platform the same... but still, this is why backwards compatibility is a GOOD thing!

There's only one word for this

[QuantumFTL]

Yum!

Oblig I.J. Reference

[fishmasta]

Bad dates.

zerg

[Lord Omlette]

Maybe after The War Against Terrorism is over, the Israelis can export this technology to Iraq [blogspot.com]...

Judean Date Tree ... caw

[rcmiv]

Brian: Are you the Judean Date Tree?

Reg: Fuck off.

Brian: What?

Reg: Judean Date Tree. (scoffs) I'm the Date Tree of Judea. Judean Date Tree, caw.

Francis: Wanker.

Brian: Can I join your group?

Reg: No. Piss off.

-rcmiv

And in a related story

[kenp2002]

Scientists found that the 2000 year old date tree had an enzyme that causes HIV to mutate and become airborne with a 72 hour, open-air survival. Humanity soon to be wiped out because of digging up ancient plants and reviving old things that probably should be left buried in history. THE END IS NEAR!!! ... put the card board sign away sir and back away from the message thread ...