Seeds of hope: Freezing vaults guard Earth's flora

December 14, 2008 By GREGORY KATZ , Associated Press Writer

(AP) -- The underground bunker can block nuclear fallout, withstand a direct hit by a jetliner, and is cooled to a deathly chill. The ultramodern facility in the tranquil English countryside looks like a perfect lab for a James Bond villain, but it doesn't hide anything sinister. The only thing kept here are seeds, lots of them - more than a billion, in fact.

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