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2000-Year-Old Judean Date Tree Seed Sprouts

Posted by timothy on from the yeah-but-how-do-they-taste dept.

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."

32 comments

  1. jurassic park anyone? by muzik4machines · · Score: 0

    the future is now, i'm affraid

    --
    Muzik.4.Machines
  2. Re:jurassic park anyone? by CableModemSniper · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    --
    Why not fork?
  3. Slashdot Dorks by Seumas · · Score: 1, Funny

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

  4. Re:jurassic park anyone? by youknowmewell · · Score: 1

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

  5. Does this remind anyone else of the Lorax? by I(rispee_I(reme · · Score: 5, Funny

    "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

  6. At last! by mister_llah · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    Yessss!

    --
    MoM++ - A Classic Expanded - [Master of Magic 1.5]
    http://mompp.sourceforge.net/
  7. plant has a sense of humor by moosesocks · · Score: 4, Funny

    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"

    --
    -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
    1. Re:plant has a sense of humor by mnmn · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      "Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
    2. Re:plant has a sense of humor by idiot900 · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    3. Re:plant has a sense of humor by alta · · Score: 1

      Amen!

      --
      Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
  8. Extinct species = pure hype? by RobotWisdom · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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?

    1. Re:Extinct species = pure hype? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How come I can't find any reference on the Web to this supposedly extinct species?

      Duh. Because the articles about it were alos extinct. Get with the program.

      Slashdot requires you to wait 2 minutes between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.

      It's been 6 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment

      --
      Fake AC sig

    2. Re:Extinct species = pure hype? by bergeron76 · · Score: 1

      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!

      --
      Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
    3. Re:Extinct species = pure hype? by cataclyst · · Score: 1

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

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

      --
      E = m * c^(Hammer)
  9. Uh oh... by bergeron76 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Perhaps this is the "second coming" !

    --
    Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
    1. Re:Uh oh... by reklusband · · Score: 1

      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.

    2. Re:Uh oh... by Mr2cents · · Score: 1

      > Perhaps this is the "second coming" !

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

      --
      "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
  10. Will MY code still run 2000 years later? by Stardate · · Score: 3, Insightful

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

    --
    "... I declare our city to be a free and independent state to be named Tri-Insula!" --Fernando Wood, Mayor of NYC 1861
  11. There's only one word for this by QuantumFTL · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yum!

  12. Oblig I.J. Reference by fishmasta · · Score: 2, Funny

    Bad dates.

  13. zerg by Lord+Omlette · · Score: 1

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

    --
    [o]_O
  14. Re:jurassic park anyone? by Erbo · · Score: 3, Informative
    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 (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.")

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

    --
    Be who you are...and be it in style!
  15. Judean Date Tree ... caw by rcmiv · · Score: 2, Funny

    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

    1. Re:Judean Date Tree ... caw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My name is Brian, you insensitive clod!

  16. Re:jurassic park anyone? by ikkonoishi · · Score: 1

    Or the kudzu in the southern United States.

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

    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 the leaves, and jelly from the flowers and vines. Also the vines are useful when dried for basket making and for animal fodder.

    The best method to control kudzu is herds of sheep or goats. In fact there are a few groups of people down here who rent sheep to people to clean the stuff away.
    http://static.highbeam.com/n/nationalgeographic/ju ne012002/weedwhackingsheeptestattackskudzuinfestat ioninflor/

  17. And in a related story by kenp2002 · · Score: 2, Funny

    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 ...

    --
    -=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
    1. Re:And in a related story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Somewhat ironically a drug which will revolutionize the treatment of HIV will be discovered in the roots of this tree! Just don't ask me how I know.

  18. That's not a Date Tree! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's my juniper bush. Hands off!