FOR KIDS: Old, cold moss grows again

Scientists prod new growth from a plant buried for centuries

By Stephen Ornes

Web edition: June 20, 2013

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Back from the deep freeze

This moss sprung back to life after being buried beneath ice for hundreds of years.

Credit: Courtesy of C. La Farge

Mosses are mini but mighty: Even after centuries buried beneath a glacier, some of these small, flowerless plants can regrow.

Glaciers are flowing rivers of ice. The one that trapped these mosses grew during a cool period now known as the Little Ice Age. It lasted from 1550 to 1850. The glacier buried all plant life on remote Ellesmere Island, north of the Arctic Circle. But as global temperatures have been climbing, this and many other glaciers have retreated, exposing ancient mosses.

Visit the new?Science News for Kids?website and read the full story:??Old, cold moss grows again

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/351155/title/FOR_KIDS_Old_cold_moss_grows_again

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