The tree of life has been portrayed in numerous ways. In the Book of Genesis, it grants immortality. In the 2006 Darren Aronofsky film The Fountain (left) a doctor seeks out a cure for his wife's terminal illness in a South American tree. Then there's the conceptual tree of life, which seeks to explain how all things in life are related — religion, science, philosophy, mythology and so on. (Good luck figuring that one out.) Bahrain, the island country in the Persian Gulf, has an actual Tree of Life, which is more than 100 years old. It is said to be a source of immortality because it stands fertile in the middle of a desert despite being far from any source of water.