Scientists Revive 40,000-Year-Old Microbes from Alaska Permafrost

Researchers are reanimating 40,000-year-old microbes

They're alive!

Researchers just unleashed microbes trapped in Arctic ice for 40,000 years

From The Thing to The Last of Us, dozens of sci-fi classics have warned us about this moment — but did we listen?

Microbes trapped in permafrost awake after thousands of years

In a new study, a team of geologists and biologists led by CU Boulder resurrected ancient microbes that had been trapped in ice—in some cases for around 40,000 years.

Scientists wake up microbes trapped in Arctic permafrost for 40,000 years

Far beneath the icy Alaskan tundra, life lay dormant for tens of thousands of years. In ice-laden soil called permafrost, microbes of old slumbered in the dark, entombed with the mammoths and bison. When the Arctic is heating up, that icy tomb is now starting to melt—and the microbes slowly waking up with it. Permafrost is more than frozen ground. It is a natural refrigerator with huge reservoirs of carbon, bigger even than today’s supply in the…

Waking Up Microbes Trapped In Permafrost For Up To 40,000 Years - Astrobiology

In a new study, a team of geologists and biologists led by CU Boulder resurrected ancient microbes that had been trapped in ice—in some cases for around 40,000 years. The study is a showcase for the planet’s permafrost. That’s the name for a frozen mix of soil, ice and rocks that underlies nearly a quarter […] The post Waking Up Microbes Trapped In Permafrost For Up To 40,000 Years appeared first on Astrobiology.