San Diego Frozen Zoo: Preserving Genetic Knowledge
Chapter 1

Messages for a future we will never see

Chapter 2

Vaults of biological memory

Chapter 3

Oral traditions and the memory keepers

Chapter 4

Written in stone, clay, and silicon

Ch 2 · Vaults of biological memory
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007skaty Antarctic ice cores preserve physical records of Earth's ancient atmosphere.

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007skaty The San Diego Zoo preserves genetic blueprints of endangered animals.

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007skaty Soviet botanists defended the Vavilov Institute seed bank during the war.

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007skaty The San Diego Frozen Zoo

We freeze the cells, we trust tomorrow, we heal the wild

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Reading the ancient atmosphere in ice
BETA

007skaty Decode ancient air bubbles in ice to discover how past climate data helps future generations.

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007skaty The Svalbard Global Seed Vault secures crop seeds deep inside the permafrost

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The doomsday vault in the permafrost

007skaty Since 2008, this vault buried 120 meters inside a Spitsbergen mountain keeps global seed samples frozen at minus 18 degrees Celsius.

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Quiz

At what temperature are the seeds inside the Svalbard Global Seed Vault kept frozen?

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Quiz

On which Norwegian archipelago is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault located?

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We protect the future by refusing to consume what we cannot replace.

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The heroic botanists of Leningrad

007skaty The Vavilov Institute preserved crop diversity to secure agricultural knowledge for future generations.

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Quiz

Which Soviet botanist originally established the world-famous seed collection in Leningrad?

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Quiz

During which historic World War II siege did scientists sacrifice their lives to protect the seed bank?

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Fun Fact

Starving for seeds: Soviet scientists starved to death during World War II rather than eating the rare seeds they were protecting.

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Quiz

In which region was the EPICA ice core drilled, retrieving ice nearly 800,000 years old?

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Quiz

What is trapped inside ancient polar ice that allows scientists to study Earth's historic atmosphere?

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Glossary
seed bank (noun)
A secure facility where seeds are stored to preserve genetic diversity for the future. The backup facility in Svalbard, Norway, preserves over one million crop duplicates to safeguard global food security.

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Quiz

In what year was the San Diego Zoo's pioneering Frozen Zoo project founded?

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Quiz

What substance is used to keep the genetic samples in the Frozen Zoo preserved at extremely low temperatures?

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Gossip

What should we prioritize saving in deep-freeze vaults?

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