They’ve Awakened Microbes Dormant for 40,000 Years—What They Saw After 6 Months Is Deeply Frightening

They’ve Awakened Microbes Dormant for 40,000 Years—What They Saw After 6 Months Is Deeply Frightening

In the cold silence beneath Alaska’s frozen ground, inside a 350-foot tunnel carved through the permafrost near Fairbanks, researchers have recently revived microbial life that had been entombed in ice for tens of thousands of years. After incubating the samples under controlled conditions, scientists watched as these ancient organisms, once frozen in deep geological time, came alive—and began emitting greenhouse gases. The experiment, conducted…