We’ve Watched This Droplet For 91 Years But Nobody’s Ever Seen it Happen

Comment:

Good series of various long running experiments.



Of note is the test of a botanist of how long dormant seeds can remain viable.   The experiment has been running for nearly 140 years.   Some of his seeds were planted in 2000 and some species actually had the capacity to remain viable after this long period of time.  Next experiment will be in 2020.  



Very resilient, could be using some of the stored energy for maintenance, but likely at a very low rate or else there'd be no energy to power development, at least in the longer viability seeds.    But at the bottom of the ocean and kilometers underground there are likely organisms with genetics adapted to extremes of slow metabolic rate, probably lower than this, perhaps near evolvable limits.  



It just shows that even in an isolated state with minimal stored energy cells can still function and even grow and develop.   Note that the seed needs the stored energy to develop, till it is able to grow out of the ground and use photosynthesis.