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:

Oct 24, 2021Bavljenac Island
Oct 27, 2018Don’t get lost in there
Jul 6, 2021The most Instagrammable bird?
Sep 4, 2018What the hay?
Jun 14, 2022Museum Mile Festival
May 21, 2023Pont dArcole over the Seine river, Paris, France
Jul 7, 2019Traffic jam on the caribou highway
Apr 9, 2026Sgwd yr Eira waterfall, Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, Wales
Jun 7, 2025National Trails Day
Jul 20, 2021Fly me to the moon
Mar 12, 2020Fiesta at Siesta
Jun 8, 2025World Oceans Day
Nov 23, 20191, 1, 2, 3: It s Fibonacci Day!
Feb 26, 2023Tambopata National Reserve, Peru
Aug 26, 2022Kiteboarding and windsurfing in Croatia
Sep 7, 2024National Hummingbird Day
Oct 4, 2020Infrared Jupiter, erupting Io
Oct 9, 2024Aspens in the White River National Forest, Colorado
Mar 25, 2026Juvenile manatees in a freshwater spring, Crystal River, Florida
Sep 12, 2024World Dolphin Day
Dec 15, 2019The Battle of the Bulge 75 years later
Jun 17, 2025Maritime forest in Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia
Mar 14, 2020A circular celebration
Jun 16, 2026World Sea Turtle Day
Jul 29, 2023International Tiger Day
Feb 5, 2018Iceberg off the coast of Antarctica
Jul 20, 2026International Moon Day
Apr 9, 2025Naxos in the Cyclades Islands of Greece
Jul 17, 2022The Wave at Coyote Buttes
Jul 25, 2024Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee