Scientists manage to resurrect what was frozen for more than 48,000 years

Every year higher temperatures are recorded in the Arctic, which allows the melting of the layer permafrost. This consists of a frozen layer that lies below the ice and holds biological materials from other times. If the thawing of this layer occurs, the resurrection of these beings may occur.

48,000-year-old 'Zombie Virus'

The resurrection of the virus was led by professor of medicine Jean-Michel Claverie of the Aix-Marseille University School of Medicine in France. In this case, the professor used a soil sample that was taken from the Siberian permafrost, in an attempt to be able to identify whether there was a remnant of a viral particle.

In confirmation of his suspicions, Claveire managed to find what he himself called a "zombie virus". This wasn't the first time the professor had managed to do this kind of resurrection, as previously, in 2012, he managed to revive a wildflower from a seed that was in a squirrel tap.

But it wasn't until 2014 that he was able, for the first time, to revive a virus that he and his team managed to isolate from permafrost. More than just reviving it, they managed to make the virus become infectious again for the first time in 30,000 years. Then they repeated the process, with the oldest virus dating back more than 48,000 years.

The danger around permafrost thaw

In recent years, scientists have become increasingly concerned about melting ice in the Arctic, where temperatures are dropping by as much as 4 times as much as elsewhere. As a result, permafrost melts, which serves as a time capsule that protects the remains of mummified animals and especially viruses from earlier times.

The climatic characteristics of permafrost make it possible for this to be a possible storage location for this biological material. After all, it is a cold and completely oxygen-free place that light cannot reach. Thus, there is much danger in the release of new old viruses in the coming years due to global warming.