Even nature needs a backup plan… Jan 30, 2021

Even nature needs a backup plan…

This glittering concrete monolith is a lot like that still-sealed emergency survival kit languishing in your basement since 1999: Reassuring to have around, but a bummer when you actually have to use it. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault—better known by its cute nickname, the "Doomsday Vault"—was established on this far-northern Norwegian isle in 2008 to archive frozen genetic copies of seeds already housed in seed banks around the world: a backup of all the backups. Kept at minus 0.4 degrees F within the seed vault, precious botanicals from food to fibers to flowers are safe from disasters, even of the apocalyptic variety. Lucky us: It"ll take a healthy diet of veggies to fight off the zombies.

© Pal Hermansen/Minden Pictures

palette

Today in History

Jan 30, 2018Watson Lake in Granite Dells, Arizona
Jan 30, 2019Embracing the cold
Jan 30, 2020The Pearl of Siberia
Jan 30, 2022Halo around the sun
Jan 30, 2023Ice and Snow Sailing World Championships
Jan 30, 2024Aýna, Albacete, Spain
Jan 30, 2025La Brecha de Rolando (Rolands Breach), Spain
Jan 30, 2026St. Michaels Mount in Marazion, Cornwall, England

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Nov 12, 2021Beavers Bend
Oct 15, 2019The globe skimmers return
Nov 10, 2022Badlands National Park turns 44
Mar 9, 2021Spring comes to the Diablo foothills
Sep 23, 2022Golden jellyfish in Jellyfish Lake, Palau
Jun 6, 2023D-Day remembered
Mar 3, 2021Climb a tree for wild animals and plants
Jun 21, 2020Grab onto the handlebars, kid
Jul 12, 2025Thomsons gazelles, Maasai Mara, Kenya
Jan 1, 2020Napping away New Year s Day
Oct 3, 2025Glen Brittle, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Feb 4, 2019Sitting down and taking a stand
Oct 2, 2023World Architecture Day
Jan 3, 2023Sandhill cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
Apr 20, 2026National Park Week
Aug 17, 2024International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend
Jul 24, 2021Can you see the family resemblance?
Jan 30, 2025La Brecha de Rolando (Rolands Breach), Spain
Jan 28, 2019Ancient groves in Australia
Mar 1, 2020Casting a vote for women s history
Aug 24, 2025European fallow deer in England
Jun 28, 2025Pride 2025
Dec 25, 2021Merry Christmas
May 10, 2024Misool, Raja Ampat Islands, Indonesia
Jan 5, 2022National Bird Day
Nov 18, 2024Porthcawl Lighthouse, Wales, UK
Feb 15, 2026World Whale Day
Jul 28, 2018Defying gravity on a swing ride
Mar 15, 2020Celebrating 200 years of statehood
Jun 4, 2022National Trails Day