Worm Revived After 46,000 Years In Siberian Permafrost

[SimonBurchell]

From CNN, mods please merge into another thread, if appropriate.

A worm has been revived after 46,000 years in the Siberian permafrost

Scientists have revived a worm that was frozen 46,000 years ago — at a time when woolly mammoths, sabre-toothed tigers and giant elks still roamed the Earth.

The roundworm, of a previously unknown species, survived 40 meters (131.2 feet) below the surface in the Siberian permafrost in a dormant state known as cryptobiosis, according to Teymuras Kurzchalia, professor emeritus at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden and one of the scientists involved in the research.

 

[AnonyJ]

From CNN, mods please merge into another thread, if appropriate.

A worm has been revived after 46,000 years in the Siberian permafrost

Scientists have revived a worm that was frozen 46,000 years ago — at a time when woolly mammoths, sabre-toothed tigers and giant elks still roamed the Earth.

The roundworm, of a previously unknown species, survived 40 meters (131.2 feet) below the surface in the Siberian permafrost in a dormant state known as cryptobiosis, according to Teymuras Kurzchalia, professor emeritus at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden and one of the scientists involved in the research.

If a certain Miss Smilla turns up, time to get afraid!

 

[kamalktk]

I swear becoming a scientist must come with a brain zap making you forget ever horror movie ever.

 

[kesavaross]

I swear becoming a scientist must come with a brain zap making you forget ever horror movie ever.

I am starting to think like that as well. More and more I am starting to see advances in science as leading down a road to the stuff of nightmares.

 

[escargot]

cryptobiosis

I wish I'd known that word back when my house was full of teenagers.

 

[Ascalon]

While the active intervention of the scientists is a concern, much more worrying is the prospect of what else might be out there, just waiting to thaw out.

Huge areas of permafrost have already been lost, and feck knows what microbes, worms, eggs, larvae, or other things might be emerging from cryptobiosis.

 

[SimonBurchell]

While the active intervention of the scientists is a concern, much more worrying is the prospect of what else might be out there, just waiting to thaw out.

Huge areas of permafrost have already been lost, and feck knows what microbes, worms, eggs, larvae, or other things might be emerging from cryptobiosis.

Indeed, as the annals of science-fiction/horror delight in reminding us: