date:Apr 21, 2014
Scientists are baffled by the amazingly fast growth of a tree that grew from a cherry stone sent into space. The stone was harvested from an ancient 1,250-year-old Chujohimeseigan-zakura cherry tree at Ganjoji Temple in the Gifu Region of Japan. Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata took the stone up to the International Space Station in 2008 where it orbited the earth 4,100 times before Wakata returned it to the temple in 2009. Wakata is now commander of the ISS.
Monks at the temple contacted scien