6 Real Planets That Put Science Fiction to Shame. George Lucas dreamed up planets with two suns and cloud cities, and Gene Roddenberry invented dozens of worlds that were all suspiciously similar to the Southern California desert.
But as actual space exploration advances and we start to learn what's really on the surface of those distant worlds, it becomes increasingly clear that our imagination has no chance of competing with the jaw-dropping, pants-peeing craziness outer space is capable of cooking up. For instance ... #6. Gliese 436 b Is Coated in Burning Ice. 32,000-Year-Old Plant Reborn From Ancient Fruit in Siberian Ice. Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Researchers have revived a fertile plant from the remains of its 32,000-year-old fruit found deep in the Siberian ice and buried within the fossilized burrows of ancient squirrels.
The resurrected plant, from an era of woolly mammoths and saber-tooth cats, is the oldest viable multicellular living organism, according to the study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It is also the first plant returned to life from permafrost conditions, researchers said. The discovery raises the possibility of reviving other frozen organisms with prehistoric gene pools, researchers said. Using a horticulture technique called micropropagation, researchers grew the plant from fruit tissue in a test tube of nutrients.
The ones that grew roots were transferred into pots with soil and light, where they developed flowers and seeds.