Top 10 science stories of 2008 -- #9: The doomsday vault

December 23, 10:54 AMScience News ExaminerMeg Marquardt

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The Doomsday Vault. Credit AP.

In celebration of the approaching New Year, I present a list of the top ten science stories of 2008.  Taken from the vast expanse of all fields of science, they may not be everyone's top ten, but they are among the top news makers and will have repercussions well past the ending days of 2008.

They call it the “Doomsday Vault.”  Perhaps that’s a little melodramatic, but the giant seed vault in Norway has been created to withstand even the greatest disasters, a literal Doomsday, while keeping its precious contents safe.  It contains thousands of seeds of different crops from all around the world, making it largest vault of its kind.

Opened early this year, the vault was built both inside a mountain and underground, making it more or less indestructible.  It also happens to be located on a remote island in the Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.  So not only indestructible, but also way off the map, hopefully preventing it from being in direct fire of a man-made disaster that would threaten, less stable vaults.  

CNN reported that the first shipment to the vault consisted of “268,000 distinct samples of seeds, with each sample containing a hundred-plus seeds and originating from a different farm or field around the world. In all, the shipment of seeds secured in the vault Tuesday [February 26] weighed approximately 10 tons, filling 676 boxes.”

That’s a lot of seeds.  And what’s more, many of them are duplicate crops.  Corn alone has over 20,000 variations from all over the world.  This repetition is essential to the vault program, for if a crop fails in one area, there will be thousands of more seeds of the same crop from which to choose.

Most nations have their own seed vaults.  These failsafe structures are meant to protect against total destruction of a crop due to natural disasters like mudslides or floods.  What makes the vault in Norway unique is that it can stand up to far more disasters than that.  Not only could it withstand an earthquake, but also nuclear disaster, ensuring that even if all human life was wiped off the face of the Earth, hundreds of thousands of seeds would remain safe.

And not only will they remain safe, but they will do so for millennia to come.  "The seed vault is the perfect place for keeping seeds safe for centuries," said Cary Fowler, executive director of the trust, to CNN. "At these temperatures , seeds for important crops like wheat, barley and peas can last for up to 10,000 years."
 

Check out the rest of the list here.