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.

So beautiful. So crumbling. Everything is ephemeral in our world…even stone.

Journalist Spends Four Years Traversing India to Document Crumbling Subterranean Stepwells Before they Disappear

by Christopher Jobson (COLOSSAL)

Doesn’t that look like an M.C. Escher piece?

“Across India an entire category of architecture is slowly crumbling into obscurity, and you’ve probably never even heard it. Such was the case 30 years ago when Chicago journalist Victoria Lautman made her first trip to the country and discovered the impressive structures called stepwells. Like gates to the underworld, the massive subterranean temples were designed as a primary way to access the water table in regions where the climate vacillates between swelteringly dry during most months, with a few weeks of torrential monsoons in the spring.

Thousands of stepwells were built in India starting around the 2nd and 4th centuries A.D. where they first appeared as rudimentary trenches but slowly evolved into much more elaborate feats of engineering and art. By the 11th century some stepwells were commissioned by wealthy or powerful philanthropists (almost a fourth of whom were female) as monumental tributes that would last for eternity. Lautman shares with Arch Daily about the ingenious construction of the giant wells that plunge into the ground up to 10 stories deep…”

For the rest, and spectacular photos. click here.

So delicate, so creepy, so beautiful. Is is Halloween season yet? We can’t wait…

Japanese Artist Carves Pearls Into Skull Jewelry

(Bored Panda)

“Shinji Nakaba is a Tokyo-based jewelry designer who’s been creating since 1974. Everything he makes is wearable, and Nakaba often uses unconventional materials to create his pieces. These intricately carved pearl skulls are an example of his exceptional work.

“I just want to bring brand new life to something that has no value,” Nakaba tells Magnifico. “I use not only precious metals and stones, but also everyday things, such as aluminum beer cans, plastic bottle, or even garbage,” he explains on Etsy.

“Vanitas” is carved into many of Nakaba’s skulls. This is Latin for “vanity,” and is likely a reference to 16th-17th century funerary art. Work of this type emphasized the meaninglessness of earthly life “and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits.”…

For more photos, click here.