They couldn't wait to not know. Humans!

"Your turn..."

"I choose, 'People doing things that are really stupid for $400 Alex'"

Bristlecone pines are the oldest living non-clonal organisms. Killing the ancient clam ranks up there with the killing of Prometheus. The tree was 4,844 years old, when it was cut down in 1964 by a graduate student in order to count the growth rings.

Ending somethings life in order to see how long it lived seems counter productive...

It's a friggin' clam for crying out loud; I imagine it led a pretty boring 400+ years life. I can't believe the crap some ppl get their panties in a bunch for. As for the tree, no one seems to care (as much) about the poor younger cut down in their prime: trees that could have lived a few thousand years. Seems that people care more about this kind of crap than they do humans, born or unborn, these days.