M.J. Rose

Scientists “reanimate” an extinct 30,000-year-old “giant” virus that was discovered  in the permafrost of Siberia…

 

 

The World’s Largest Virus Was Just Resurrected From 34,000-Year-Old Permafrost

By Joseph Stromberg (smithsonian.com)

 

It’s not a threat to humans, but does show that ancient viruses can persist for millennia and remain a potential health threat

 

“Deep within the Siberian permafrost, nearly 100 feet underneath the frozen ground, it sat dormant, for centuries and centuries. Above ground, the glaciers receded, ancient humans arrived, and eventually, civilization developed.

 

Now, it’s been thawed and revived, thanks to a team of French scientists. It’s a virus, and its zombie-like resurrection goes to show that the microbes can persist for far longer than scientists have previously imagined.

 

For tens of thousands of years, the virus remained entirely frozen. The microbe, however, wasn’t quite dead—partly because any virus, by the standards of biology, can’t be truly be described as alive. All viruses require host cells to reproduce, and in between reproductive cycles, they persist as an inert particle called a virion, roughly analogous to a plant’s seed…”

 

Read more here.

 

 

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