An official website of the United States government
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
 Image Number K8167-11 |
Plant physiologist Christina Walters is lowering a container of seeds into a vat of liquid nitrogen that will cryopreserve them. These vats can hold 5,000 containers of up to 2,000 seeds each. The longevity of seeds stored in this fashion is projected to be thousands of years, but scientist periodically remove samples to assess their viability and vigor.
Photo by Scott Bauer.
