Think zombies are scary? What about awakening ancient frozen monsters?!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Imagine being on a research dig in the Arctic, where you discover thirteen viruses… from fifty thousand years ago!
That’s what happened to Jean-Marie Alempic and team at France’s National Center for Scientific Research.
One recovered virus, Pandoravirus yedoma, infected amoebas – tiny water-dwelling cells – causing them to burst.
That proved these prehistoric viruses are still functional and kicking! And long-frozen Arctic ice is melting fast, revealing frozen microbes.
Most of these viruses target amoebas… not humans… but what else could be lurking below?
Climate change could unearth more than just old ice – it could reveal primordial plagues!
Reference: Alempic, J.-M., Lartigue, A., Goncharov, A. E., Grosse, G., Strauss, J., Tikhonov, A. N., Fedorov, A. N., Poirot, O., Legendre, M., Santini, S., Abergel, C., & Claverie, J.-M. (2023). An Update on Eukaryotic Viruses Revived from Ancient Permafrost. Viruses, 15(2), 564. https://doi.org/10.3390/v15020564