Dr. Sallon and her team thought it was an extinct species known from history as Judean Balsam, but it turned out to be something called Tsor
"During an archaeological dig in a desert area north of Jerusalem 40 years ago, a seed was discovered which was determined to be in pristine condition but had obviously seen many a year.
Now, despite falling from its parent 1,000 years ago, it has grown into a mature tree, and botanists examining it believe it may be an extinct species that was used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years—even receiving a nod in the Bible.
Neither Israeli botanists, nor Dr. Sarah Sallon, a physician who founded the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem, could determine what species it was from simply from the seed covering. So they did what nature intended—they planted it.
Using a well-documented technique that saw 2,000-year-old date palm fruit pits germinate, Dr. Sallon soaked the seed in hormones, liquid fertilizer, and water, and then planted it in a pot of sterile seed; then waited.
Despite its genetic code being exposed to environmental stressors for over 1,000 years, the seed sprouted after 5 weeks. The shoot was protected by a caplike feature called an operculum. As the shoot grew, the operculum was shed—leaving something for the team to radiocarbon date. It narrowed down the age of the almost 10-centuries-old seed to between the years 993 an 1202.
Fast forward 14 years and the plant has become a 10-foot-tall tree. Dr. Sallon shared images of the tree, its bark, and its leaves with botanists around the world. One expert suggested it belonged to the genus Commiphora, found across the Arabian Peninsula and parts of Africa. A genetic analysis subsequently revealed this was the case, but a perfect match was lacking.
Pictured: The tree, now 14 years old.
Dr. Sallon and her team thought it was an extinct species known from history as Judean Balsam, but the best way to confirm that suspicion would be to have some aromatic traces similar to the resins of the myrrh tree to which it is related. However, no such fragrant compounds were detected.
Instead, the chemical analysis of the leaves identified a group of phytochemicals known as guggulterols which have been observed in a related species called Commiphora wightii that’s known to possess certain cancer-fighting properties in its resin.
A medicinal balm, the origin of which is not known, is mentioned in multiple historical texts including the Bible as ‘tsori,’ and rather than the fragrant Judean Balsam, it’s this tsori that Dr. Sallon and her team believe they have found.
They must wait until the tree, now 14 years old, produces flower or fruit to know for sure if it’s an extinct species, and if so, how to perhaps keep it alive.
Dr. Louise Colville, senior research leader in seed and stress biology at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London who wasn’t involved in the research, told CNN that it was a major accomplishment to grow a seed that old and possibly lead to a resurrection of this Biblical botanical.
“What’s surprising in this story is it was just a single seed and to be able to have one chance for that to germinate is extremely lucky,” she said.
“Working in a seed bank, seeing the potential for that extreme longevity gives us hope that banking and storing seeds that some at least will survive for very long periods of time.”"
-via Good News Network, October 8, 2024
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Note: This is such a good demonstration of why seed banks are so important!! They give us such real and massive hope for deextinction and the revival of endangered species.
There is something so poetic about the Israeli Jews, who have returned to the land of their ancestors from thousands of years ago, ressurecting thousand year old native Judean plants and nursing them up into big thriving trees.
I’m really glad to see people are actually discovering who Max Nordau was now. You can read a copy of Degeneration online here https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/51161/pg51161-images.html
It is a horrific book which is responsible for so much bloodshed and misery but just know that every time you use the term ‘degenerate’ or ‘degeneracy’ to refer to a person or thing you don’t like you’re continuing the legacy of Max Nordau and engaging in fascist rhetoric. It is a word which has no place in the modern lexicon especially as a joke
I really do not love the way Tumblr has decided that the problem with the term "degeneracy" has to do with Nordau (who died in the 1920s) being a Zionist rather than the adoption of the idea and use of the term by
I lit a candle for my cousin, Shir. I can't believe it's been a year, I still cry every time I think about her. So I decided to share some facts about her:
She loved butterflies
Her favorite color was yellow
When she was seven her parents let her help paint their home, several walls still have Shir butterflies everywhere she could reach
Her two front teeth were far enough apart that she could squirt water between them
She would get into arguments with stray cats
She liked to mix ketchup and honey and dip her fries in it (I taught her that one)
She used to make up songs about whatever she was doing (we sometimes called her "Shir ha'shirim)
Her bat mitzvah would have been this past may
She was twelve years old
Her body was found missing her pants and underwear
final project for my jewish studies class ! the assignment was to answer the question, “WHAT IS JEWISH ART?” after spending the semester studying jewish artists from the 20th century, so here are my thoughts on the intersection of art and identity.
goyim can interact w this post but don’t clown in the comments thx
maybe this isn’t the most coexistence-pilled sentiment but i get so angry sometimes when i think about how people took our g-d and decided he was everyone’s g-d, took our holy texts and decided they were everyone’s holy texts, took our holy land and decided it was everyone’s holy land, and we’re expected to just accept that. goyim think they can tell us we’re worshipping our own g-d wrong because they decided he was their g-d too. they think they can criticize how we engage with our own torah because they stole it and changed it and added shit and rewrote it when it was ALWAYS OUR TORAH. they call yerushalayim “the holy land of three religions” because apparently if you colonize someone hard enough you get to claim their holy land as your holy land too and the entire world will just nod their heads right along because the entire foundation of their global society is based on the colonization of ours. and i know it’s antithetical to peace and so i push aside this feeling when i talk about actual solutions and real world actions and consequences but that deep angry part of me does think it’s complete fucking bullshit that christianity and islam get to plunder our entire culture for themselves in between mass murdering us and nobody calls them on it
Pages from mini zines about Jewish folklore (the series includes zines on golems, dybbuk, malachim and sheydim) by illustrator / zinester, Ezra Rose. Buy them here and pay what you like.
The metamorphosis being a meme kills me to death because nobody gets it like I do. I'm not immune to jokes about turning into a bug but I'm on a different level here. They don't even know Kafka's jewish
Yes it's about turning into a bug and being late for work and it's Absurd. It's also about Kafka's struggles with mental and physical health and the rising antisemitism in 1920s Germany. And when you know this it makes the concept of "waking up one day unable to get out of bed for reasons you can't explain and everyone thinking you're some sort of vermin and wanting to kill you", yknow, it kinda puts it into perspective that it just actually happened to him
I guess getting into All Of That would require acknowledging how subsequently 1930s Germany didn't just spawn out of thin air & people are really really hesitant to do that. But I'm pointing it out
Saw someone refer to people who are mixed Italian and Jewish as Pizza Bagels. It’s a cute name. I’m jealous. I’m mixed English and Jewish and all I get called is assimilated.
i think the world doesn’t know what it really means to live in a theocratic dictatorship. Let me tell you about our experiences living in the islamic regime of iran.
1. Your parents were born to muslim parents so they’re automatically muslim. You’re automatically a muslim too. You didn’t choose your religion and you can’t opt out of it or you will be executed.
2. The compulsory hijab law makes you a criminal if you choose not to wear hijab even tho you didn’t choose to be a muslim and you don’t consider yourself a muslim but the regime has forced you into that role whether you like it or not. And when you ‘break that law’, they can do with you as they please.
3. little girls as young as 7 yrs old are forced to wear hijab at school even tho the islam itself says the age is 9. and all the schools are gender segregated so imagine how they force you to get used to hijab even when you’re just surrounded by other girls. And all day long at school they tell you horrible stories about what will happen to you in hell if someone sees even a strand of your hair.
4. the regime modifies all the textbooks, story books, cartoons and movies to represent the ideal woman with full on hijab. The iranian media is ordered to photoshop every photo of a woman that may be showing a little skin. And if they’re iranian, no hair is supposed to be seen or that will be photoshopped away. Women are mostly excluded from billboards and tv commercials.
5. imagine going to work or meeting up with a friend when suddenly the morality police kidnap you in broad daylight and force you into a van to take you to a station where they will treat you like a criminal and if you don’t agree to get humiliated and do as they say, they will put you in prison. And in case of Mahsa Amini and so many more before her, they will beat you to death. My sister was barely 18 when she got kidnapped and they didn’t let her call home and she’d been so fucking scared and we had no idea where she was. Imagine all the psychological trauma.
6. If you’re in a car and not wearing hijab they will fine you and seize your car. So when u get into a taxi the driver will ask you to keep your hijab on otherwise they’ll get fined. And if you refuse they’ll ask you to get off the car.
7. And its not just about hijab. In Ramadan, they get even more vicious. If they catch you eating or even drinking water on the street they will give you lashes as punishment and even imprison you for breaking the law. If you work in a state-owned company it’s even worse. They will close the cafeteria and take away the water dispensers. All restaurants are banned from delivering food before iftar. It’s a fucking mess. Everyone has to pretend they’re fasting or they’ll be severely punished.
8. And how could I forget about this! iranian women are banned from singing! the islamic regime prohibits women’s singing voices to be heard by men so imagine the horror of having 50% of the population banned from ever becoming a singer. If they identify a female singer in iran, they will take her to jail and force her to repent her sins in the most humiliating way so that she will never dare sing again.
9. And every time the regime gets wind of a private gathering of men and women trying to have fun and live their fucking private lives, the police crash the party and take everyone to jail bc the Islamic regime bans iranian men and women from having fun.
10. Did you know that the islamic regime doesn’t allow women’s faces to be printed on their obituaries or headstones? They put a flower for our faces instead and if they see a headstone with a woman’s face printed on it they’ll smash it to pieces. That’s how religious dictatorship continues to oppress and erase women even after their deaths.
11. For some reason, women aren’t allowed to ride motorcycles and the government won’t issue any license for them. In some cities, women are barred from riding a bicycle.
So if you see Islam has become for many iranians a symbol of oppression and torture and discrimination, that’s why. The regime uses islam as a weapon to silence and punish anyone who opposes them. You can love islam all you want from the safety of your home in a free country and talk about how kind and benevolent the religion is, but in iran, it’s a whole different story.
Our economy is fucked. All govt officials are corrupt as fuck. Most websites are banned in iran. Even tumblr is banned. The world has cut the iranian ppl from many services. We don’t have intl credit cards like visa card. Amazon doesn’t do delivery to iran. We cant get netflix, spotify or even a gamepass subscription. we don’t get any Apple services here. iran isn’t listed as a country you could choose when signing up for a lot of services. and when we decide to leave iran and escape this hellhole, every country out there will make it sooo much harder for us to get a visa just bc we had the misfortune to be born in iran at the wrong time.
This is the story of iran for the past 44 years. Held hostage by a corrupt regime that uses religion to suppress and torture the people and being abandoned by the rest of the world bc our lives don’t matter.
Please be our voice. Once they shut down the internet completely and silence our voice, they will start slaughtering us to stifle the protests just like they did in 2019. Please help us. We want this fucking regime gone.
^^Everyone should read this before talking about Iran and islamic "repooplic"
Oh and i should add:
This corrupt fuck of a regime has been destroying our country's culture and resources for 45 years!
They have been destroying forests to build luxurious villas for themselves. They literally dried up lake Urmia and the Zayanderood river with their lack of management
The actions of the islamic republic led to the demise of the last Persian cheetah in Iran, named Pirooz. The species is critically endangered
Our historical landmarks are slowly decaying because this anti iranian regime just doesn't care about Iran's culture
We suffer from serious water shortage especially poor provinces like Balouchistan because the mullahs keep drying up the lakes
And don't get me started on how they are destroying our culture. We barely celebrate our many Persian traditions. Islamic republic has always been trying to "islamize" Iran, meaning the want to erase our Persian culture. They have been trying for years to "modify" or just remove our celebration of the persian new year Nowrooz.
This year the mullahs literally BANNED everyone from celebrating "sizdeh be dar", our ancient tradition of hanging out with family on the 13th day of the new year. They closed up all the parks, cafes and restaurants to prevent people from going out! Can you imagine how FUCKED UP this is???
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