Ancient plant matter and nuclear waste dumps make for strange bedfellows. And yet, scientists actually encountered the two quite recently. Researchers discovered cellulose reportedly dating back 253 million years and possible DNA in salt crystals in a New Mexico nuclear waste dump.

At first, Professor Jack D. Griffith thought that he and his team were seeing bacteria virii, but further testing revealed that they were actually looking at ancient cellulose. The cellulose was  water locked in tiny cubes of clear and reddish-brown salt crystals at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. Griffith and his team used a small drill to extricate it from the walls.

Griffith mentioned that cellulose is both extremely stable and extremely abundant on the planet. He intends to subject the alleged DNA to further testing in order to verify whether it is, in fact, precisely that. He also intends to go searching for more cellulose in older salt beds - such as the one under Detroit.