Rachel Sussman: The world's oldest living things

[crudhousefull]

The red mark on Sri Lanka on the map is for a sapling of the Bo tree that the Lord Buddha reached enlightenment under. That sapling is now over 2000 years old with a continuous history recorded by monks from the time it was brought to Sri Lanka by India. Probably the most photographed tree in Sri Lanka lol. She doesn't need to come here to get more details

[Haziel83]

Shes trying to speak with a Popcorn accent....and i feel like saying a bitch for no reason...bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch!!!

[ngeliatduit]

Greatz!! Good!!

[insomniacgrace]

Nakakabighani. They were just too great. Thanks for sharing this.

[juliacotic]

they're great...looking forward for more.

[abduhzelda]

There is something about her lol.

Not looks or etc.. its just something i can't explain attracting me to her lol.

[Kurtconradt13]

How do they work out the age of something living?

[tty23]

@Kurtconradt13 growth rates, or in the case of tree by its rings

[13Segruts]

How about everyone gets angry and argues about off topic things in the comments!!!!

[freebirdh]

I want to go see the tree, Pando. hmm you learn something new each day!!

[Subtalvik2]

Ugly host but cool.

[efzt]

@Spootnik2 She aint ugly dickbrain. With her nice tramp stamp I think she's one sexy joo. I'd do her!

[mg03nma]

to much talk in between the information.

[tantoedge]

5:28 - I imagined that it was one tree...

I think my imagination has temporarily imploded.

[BlueCrystalGem]

Why is that estimate of age on the japanese tree has a margin of 5000 years?

[bluewhale18]

she left out general sherman :(

nice yiddishe girl by the way

[mihaimoldo]

80,000 years old tree....where's your god now

[CheckinGagaiNagain]

@mihaimoldo

dO research!

Time nOw!

sO yOu knOw whO the fuckers GODS are arOund this planet!

sOme are blind frOm birth,they have an excuse!

but then they see clearer than mOst Of yOus!

nO wOnder!!!!!

yOu dOn't..

[BlueCrystalGem]

@mihaimoldo he's in an evidence gap some where, planning how you would die a horrible death.

[mihaimoldo]

@BlueCrystalGem yep, that sounds exactly like an all-loving all-forgiving god would do. Tell him to suck it.

[GreyLabyrinthine]

Loved this talk (like I do most, if not all of TEDtalks).

Does anyone know exactly why the stromatolites don't count as living beings? (There are some left on the west coast of Australia, and she doesn't have a little flag there at all...)

[DaZlaja]

Who knows what else is out there...

[RandomVortex]

I think both biblical literalists and Creationists should take a good look at this(and then dismiss it as the work of the devil !!!)

Amazing stuff!(I never knew there living things this old.)

[coopersnoop]

Her very LIFESTYLE is killing exactly what She's trying to save. Ironic.

Is this Al Gore's daughter perhaps? :)

[coopersnoop]

@Knr911 - uhmmm ... watch the video again, listen to what see says.

[Knr911]

@coopersnoop Huh, I don't have the time to wath it again for 15 minutes just for that.. Please give me the quote and the minutes she said it.

[Knr911]

@coopersnoop Becau seshe's taking jets? Well, that's sadly the case with many environmentalists, overall the pseudo-hippie ones like her and, dare I say, the females most.

I know so many females soooooo concerned with environment and animals yet they still rub dozens of cosmetics full of toxics on their face, lipstick with whale fat, and never refuses any oil-pumped comfort.

But loves to wash dishes with 100% ineffective "green" washing products, for some reason.

[coopersnoop]

@Knr911 - I think we are in complete agreement ! :)

[CheckinGagaiNagain]

@Knr911

Females must lOve yOu?

Funny she nOt making war in general!

[CheckinGagaiNagain]

@coopersnoop

We dO have free energy sadly nOt given tO us!

The questiOn is nOt why fOr we knOw the answer but, what are yOu gOnna dO bOut it?:)

[coopersnoop]

I like someone who describe nature and beauty and how fragile it all is from man's presence. Meanwhile shes taking jets all over the world just to look at a fungus.

Nice carbon footprint lady.

[meltingcastle]

Fascinating, beautiful, informative, etc. Love this talk!

[neobattle2]

interconnected root system rules ^^

[kre36]

She has a good phone sex voice.

[MrJekyllDrHyde1]

This is inspiring, I need to find someone who would fund my around the globe travels !

[gordinidesigns]

Wow!!!!! This is one of the best TED talks I have seen, & I have watched at least 30 of them. It inspires awe. Yes, please protect these.

[ghostgrl2013]

Everyone was born an aethiest.

They were also born as nudist's and that makes >me< uncomfortable.  Now we have something in common: feeling uncomfortable...

And... now the moment has passed and we want to bash each other's brains in again.

[LilJellyS]

Yeah, I know, can't she speak up a little. Put in more energy? She sounds like she's just using enough energy to whisper!

[wiseye61]

this woman's voice is booooring

[mrblisterfist]

@wiseye61 mundane comment 

[wiseye61]

@mrblisterfist

its because it's true

[Pasteldqueijo]

It's age power is over 9.000 !!! AAAAAARRRRGHHH !!

[elchafa]

Interesting yet boring

[jsmith2142]

we shouldnt be overly concerned about all the endangered species. in case noone noticed, there were many extinctions prior to the arrival of humans. as long as we're not hunting and chopping everything to death i'll be happy

[akrulla]

Awesome, another eye-opener. Thanks TEDTalks! :)

[Masterphan]

Those clonal plants are debatable. Only part of the biological community agrees that those are one tree. It's one root system, but one tree...?

[bradq]

wow. a fungus as destructive as corporate America

[SteelBalor]

what does it taste like

[oshinsr]

wow, so interesting

[EssiacHempLaetrile]

-The 600 Million+ year old Endocannabinoid System & 34 Million year old Cannabis unites us all.

Dr. Guy, Executive Chairman of GW Pharmaceuticals

-Endocannabinoids in mammals is an evolutionarily ancient phenomenon that may date back to the unicellular common ancestor of animals & plants (PMID: 16596778)

-Dr. Melamede "Cannabinoids are in every living animal on the planet above Hydra & Mollusks with the exception of insects"

We hypothesized that CB receptors were lost in insects (PMID: 11447587)

[Kan2209]

#LOL# ?

[xjustamem0ryx]

sample those for gene therapy already, I WANNA GROW 2,000 YRS OLD!

[cristoretornebiblia]

I enjoyed this

[harveyts3]

for my part I thought this we informative and enjoyable. I have do some looking into this myself online and was not aware of several of these. Very interesting, very well spoken.

[guyincognito84]

Tattoo #FAIL

[MrCasimopo89]

hippy......oh yea i went to this place and the fishies in the water let me grab them and omg u stupid fool.

[Clone42]

What a horrible speaker. Very self-indulgent, extremely boring, and unnatural in her delivery. Couldn't sit through it.

[soseg]

what are the red flags on the South East coast of Australia? out in Victoria... I WANA KNOW! I LIVE THERE!!!

[ExpieMF]

@soseg Google kickstarter the-oldest-living-things-in-th­e-world "Clonal shrubs", apparently

[h2inuyasha2]

How the hell is that Clonal Quaking Aspen Tree 80,000 years old when the earth isnt even that old?

That makes no fucking sense.

[morganbath]

@h2inuyasha2 It is a super mutant tree with the ability to time travel.

[drout0]

@h2inuyasha2 i heard somewhere earth's age is 4.5 billion years ( wikipedia - "earth's age" )

[drout0]

@h2inuyasha2 since earth's age is 4.5 billion years, now it does make fucking sense.

[h2inuyasha2]

@drout0 I made you rage XD

[soseg]

@h2inuyasha2 what u mean the world isnt that old?

[Vitaminnn07]

@h2inuyasha2

the earth has been around for about 4.5 billion years

btw if Adam and Eve's children fucked each other, it would be incest and all their descendants would probably deteriorate

[opmike343]

@Vitaminnn07

The idea, at least from the reference point of the Bible, is that Adam and Eve were more "pure" than we are today. So, they didn't have the issues of latent genetic defects compounding via offspring the product of incest. I think the Bible's all BS, but this is a common apologist's position.

[h2inuyasha2]

@Vitaminnn07 I dont believe in god, so idc about that part.

Science proved that shit is fake as hell.

(waits on atheist haters)

[dookiecheez]

@h2inuyasha2

[Citation needed]

[h2inuyasha2]

@dookiecheez *put dick in citation box*

Citate that.

[dookiecheez]

@h2inuyasha2

[Citation is too small]

[CheckinGagaiNagain]

@Vitaminnn07

Oh!

She's arOund alright vampiring..

YOU!!

And her charlie's Angels..

[Vitaminnn07]

@CheckinGagaiNagain

hUh?

[CheckinGagaiNagain]

@Vitaminnn07

RESEARCH!

NOW TRUTH HAVE TO COME OUT,nO stOnes unturned!

[Vitaminnn07]

@CheckinGagaiNagain

learn proper typing, crazY biTch

[spolida]

What does this have to do with the above video? Are just trying to make random points to just sound smart..or not?

[Vitaminnn07]

@spolida

it's just my reply to a person @h2inuyasha2 who thinks the earth is not even 80 000 years old, find his original comment and weep

[karandex]

@Vitaminnn07 dont worry christen will find excuse that incent is OK for adam and eve

[Ceramictrout]

@Vitaminnn07 Do you not see the advent of spray-on cheese and the appreciation of various kinds of Snookies as incontrovertible proof of this phenomenon?

[Vitaminnn07]

@Ceramictrout sorry, i don't understand what you're talking about.. i wish i could.

[soseg]

tattoo on her arm... seems like a mistake the older she gets?

[michalchik]

Sometimes it is just nice to ignore the young earth creationists and get on with appreciating the wonder of reality.

[roidroid]

@michalchik it took me minutes to realize why your name looks so familiar to me.

the leagueofreason irc chatroom

[Nilsy1975]

@michalchik Sometimes? Lets ignore those idiots & appreciate the winder of the real world!

[MOSSUPTHEHERO]

atcho0o0o0o0! I think I just caught a 600 000 yr old cold

[xjaskix]

this is such bullcrap they dont know how to measure age properly.. stupid scietints think they are so smart. i dont believe any animal live longer than man because why would God allow that?? we humans rule over animals theyre not better than us

[greenfarter]

@xjaskix Very Good! :)

[MobiusCoin]

@xjaskix omg... you can't be serious. Where do you get your logic? Okay, let's just forget the fact that age has biological markers (ie the inner rings of a tree), let's forget all that. Where at all in the Bible does it say that God made man to live longer than all other creatures? This is clearly not a Hebrew concept from the days of Elijah and this was clearly not the concept of Roman Jews (whose average live span was less than 40 years).

[MobiusCoin]

@xjaskix And it is certainly not an early Christian idea, neither Augustine or Thomas Aquinas spoke of such ideas of longevity of human life. Nevermind Jesus himself, who was an apocalyptic teacher (as was Paul) whose whole premise was that the Kingdom of Heaven was coming very soon, probably within his follower's life time. You're just making shit up, Genesis says that man will have dominion over the animals, not out live them.

[kkseer]

Wow very interest stuff

[toxzen]

cool, never thought they'd do a TED video on my grandparents.

[PersonalPariah]

@ForCurrentUse Well it's not under ideal circumstances I know... but if you really loved them, you'd make it work.

[kittykattykoo]

I saw that tree in yakushima!

[MalaTemporaCurrunt]

she's a JAP allright!

[HDvideosaregood]

I aged 100 years watching this boring video. TED is about interesting lectures and interesting lecturers. You can't have one without the other.

[benglen]

outstanding

[goog2k]

From another point of view, since we are ALL connected in an unbroken chain of life to the original bacteria that evolved in earth's primordial oceans aren't we ALL an expression the the world's oldest living thing?

(She also talked about a few clonal organisms, but aren't ALL asexually reproducing organisms, in fact, "clonal?")

[unknotmiguel]

@goog2k i think yes. but even clonal can have some subtle differences, due to small DNA errors, during the cloning mitosis..

[tranceman14]

is it just me or does she sound like she just smoked some great bud?

[LemonLimeLaughter]

She is just like me after I go hiking in the woods with a blunt.

[zimdooga]

@tranceman14 Ohhh yeah did I mention YOU CAN PUT YOUR WEED IN THERE!

[superfisto]

Asking the age of bacteria is a philosophical question. If they divide asexually and lineage can be traced back to close the the origin of life...

[robertgalapagos]

One of the most eloquent and beautiful collisions / collaborations between art and science that I've ever seen - brilliant work. Her message advances and sensitizes dialogue within and between the artistic and scientific communities in profound ways, and offers the casual observer an opportunity to better understand both. A fantastic TED talk, this one hits the mark square on.

[Platyzoan]

Her definition of an old living thing is very generous to include clonal plants and coral (colonies of tiny cloned creatures). These are lifeforms that are dying and reproducing clones of themselves over thousands of years. No doubt they fascinating, but there aren't single individuals that have lived for the spans that she states.

I am surprised no bristlecone pines made her presentation. Now, those are some interesting trees.

[nightmathzombieethan]

1:10 7000 years old? But the Earth has only been around for 6000!

(Rolls his eyes).

[augustharper]

@nightmathzombieethan I like the way you think. Feline RNA has been dated back to 35,000 years, but I guess RNA testing can be corrupted somehow too.

[nightmathzombieethan]

@augustharper

Oh, didn't you realize? The 10's-100's of thousands of scientists around the world get together every year and decide what lies they are all going to tell us. It's all part of science's "Evil Agenda".

They're just doing the work of Satan.

You really ought to base your entire view of reality on a 2000 Y/O book written by people who would have been amazed by a plastic bag and terrified of a laptop computer.

;-)

lol

[augustharper]

@nightmathzombieethan I once read on a christian forum a response by a poster who asked how many scientists there were in the world, he thought maybe around a few hundred. He asked why we were allowing a couple hundred scientists, versus the millions of faith and religious teachers, to give us our version of reality. It boggles my mind sometimes how ridiculous it can all be. I wonder if they will ever allow a "reliable" system of dating to enter their brains.

[nightmathzombieethan]

@augustharper Delicious irony. There's a general consensus amongst scientists in different fields worldwide and yet I bet if you went to just ONE church, every churchgoer there would have different answers as to what it means to be Xtian, and what the bible means. Hilarious how they all read the SAME book and they still can't agree on it. I honestly/sadly think that a lot of Xtians are never taught the truth of how the scientific world works, because most of the 1's I meet have no REAL idea.

[LordPine]

@nightmathzombieethan idiot

[nightmathzombieethan]

@LordPine

Because.....?

[romeoneverdies]

@nightmathzombieethan 6000 years old ?? where do you get that ?

[xinlo]

@romeoneverdies

Some creationist idiots added up some ages of people in the Bible to extrapolate back to Adam and Eve. They accept that as the beginning of the universe...

[Noemro]

@nightmathzombieethan I'm pretty sure it's OVER 9000!!!!!!!!!!!

[nightmathzombieethan]

@Noemro LMAO!!!

I was yelling that at someone yesterday and they just didn't "get it".

4chanitely some people do! LMAO

[dreamsInMeteora]

@nightmathzombieethan snap! = ]

[roidroid]

@nightmathzombieethan lies.

The entire universe was created LAST THURSDAY.

All of our memories are fake.

[nightmathzombieethan]

@roidroid :-)

Are you sure? Or is the devil getting you to say that as a test to all of us?

[MasterMark123]

what is better than TED on the internet !

[oleHABSole]

@MasterMark123 Porn, duh!

[roidroid]

@MasterMark123 TED on a cake.

[DayTripperEqualsHomo]

@ForCurrentUse see if it reacts with nucleur material then a substrate will be resent that you can date them to what time sone that the co2 / oxygen and nitrogen levels are

[killiandarcy42023]

haha location of tree proteccted? 06:12 , bottom right hand corner

[jeremy8080]

She's trashy... I like it!

[eb352mm]

she sucked elk dick to get of the fjord, i believe

[immortalis1001]

The tattoo confirms her street cred.

[sidexwalk]

RIP 400 year old clam

[Individualism101]

Tax dollars -> research grants -> pointless projects.

[chattiestspike2]

@Individualism101 my opinion -> my hand and finger configurations -> ,.I..

[Monchanger]

@Individualism101 Who said this was done with a government grant? Sounds more like a private foundation to me. And quit telling me how my tax dollars should be spent, asshole.

[Individualism101]

@Monchanger On the contrary. You have absolutely no choice how your tax dollars are spent. That is why they are tax dollars.

[Monchanger]

@Individualism101 Oh, but I most certainly do, and your ignorance is what makes you crazies so annoying. There is certainly spending I disagree with, but only you idiot conservatives think you deserve veto power over every single dollar. You of course, lacked the courage to answer the actual question, which speaks greatly to how clueless you are and how useless your comments are.

[Individualism101]

@Monchanger So if you have choice over how your tax dollars are spent then obviously you have the choice not to spend them? If so, you should be held personally accountable for the insurmountable government debt being piled onto the next generation.

[Individualism101]

@Monchanger And your position is quite ridiculous. Do you deserve veto power over your house? your car? your organs? If so, why? Why are those different to the product of your labour?

You who promotes slavery.

[matics19]

This is really friggin cool.

[ikeelyouall1641]

God is a Clonal Quaking aspen ..... all praise to the aspen bow before its twiggy might !!!!

[x3ICEx]

See bar.

Raise bar.

find next Bar.

Repeat.

[randikajamai]

nice tat

[lukeism2]

god blasted the universe out of his vagina about 6000 years ago - this whole thing is fake

[pisanghangus]

Yeah, great research. And if any of these things die within our lifetime...it shows human has done too much bad things on Earth to kill them right now after living for so long.

[etniko]

Me cayo mal la perra culia. Puro yo yo yo.

[etniko]

Isn't the entire planet only 6000 years old?

[bloodreighn]

She is a VERY boring.. very plain speaker... though the topic is pretty cool

[MrFrankBullitt]

I'd hit it.

[JayZed]

How do they know how old a living thing is?

[montelka]

@JayZed using different biomarkers for different species...it's a combianation of physical and cellular traits!

[BallinTrollin]

How about most useful living thing?

Cannabis plant! = fuel, paper, medicine, plastics, FOOD, clothes, houses, soaps...so much more.

[apocaRUFF]

@BallinTrollin I wouldn't eat cannabis. 

[BallinTrollin]

@apocaRUFF

you eat the seeds which won't get you high it has

Omega 3 & 6 + protein + fiber. look it up.

HEMP SEEDS

[apocaRUFF]

@BallinTrollin I wouldn't eat the seeds either. I'd rather eat meat, or a grain.

[BallinTrollin]

@oleHABSole

yes but let us teach those females the many uses of hemp to make the whole world a better place. =D

[spencer7890]

Grenade.

[bradwatson7324]

I'm sorry Rachel, but the tattoo and the necklace keep me from being able to concentrate on anything you say.

[archipelligo]

@bradwatson7324 thats pathetic to be honest.

[SheepRCool17]

@archipelligo i agree with your statement.

[pinochska]

@archipelligo its more pathetic for you to respond .. and even more for me to do so, but anyways had to teach you a lesson.