On a remote Norwegian island near the Arctic Circle there is a hundred-metre tunnel that leads to a series of vaults securely locked beneath the centre of a mountain. Inside the vaults is something more precious than gold, diamonds or money over half a million seeds. You may wonder why seeds need to high degree of security But be protected with such just imagine if a global catastrophe were to happen and the worlds food supply were permanently wiped out: the seeds in these vaults could be released and new crops could be grown from them The vaults constitute the svalbard Global Seed Bank, which became operational in February 2008. The seed bank preserves single specimens of 526,000 varieties of the world's edible plants includng varieties of barley wheat, and oats as well as seeds that can produce fruits and vegetables The isolated location of the seed bank was carefully chosen so that the seeds would be far from harm in the event of a war natural disaster or other calamity Furthermore, the ideal temperature for keeping the seeds is -18 degrees Celsius, which is easier to maintain in the glacial temperatures of the Arctic permafros