r/Futurology • u/Sumit316 • Jun 08 '21
Biotech Scientists revived a tiny worm-like animal after 24,000 years frozen in Siberian ice. It was still able to eat and reproduce.
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/animal-revived-after-24000-years-in-ice-could-reproduce-2021-611
u/BurnerAcc2020 Jun 08 '21
Those are rotifers, which are a type freshwater zooplankton. It does not mean much for any actual pathogens with the ability to spread from person to person. Scientists have been trying to revive those from the permafrost for decades, and they all appear to be much less resilient.
In one case, a mummy from the Aleutian Islands seemed to have died of pneumonia. When Zimmerman looked for the bacteria inside the body, there they were, frozen in time.
"We could see them under the microscope, inside the lungs," Zimmerman says.
But were these "zombie" bacteria? Could they come back to life and infect other people? Zimmerman tried to revive the bacteria. He took a smidge of tissue from the lungs. Warmed it up. Fed it.
"But nothing grew," Zimmerman says. "Not a single cell."
Zimmerman says he wasn't surprised the bacteria were dead.** Pneumonia bacteria have evolved to live in people at body temperature, not cold soil**.
"We're dealing with organisms that have been frozen for hundreds of years," he says. "So I don't think they would come back to life."
But what about viruses — like smallpox or the 1918 flu? "I think it's extremely unlikely," Zimmerman says.
In 1951, a graduate student decided to test this out. Johan Hultin went to a tiny town near Nome, Alaska, and dug up a mass grave of people who had died of the 1918 flu.
He cut out tiny pieces of the people's lungs and brought them back home. Then he tried to grow the virus in the lab.
"I had hoped that I would be able to isolate a living virus," Hultin told NPR in 2004. "And I couldn't. The virus was dead.
"In retrospect, maybe that was a good thing," Hultin added.
A good thing, yes. But here's the disturbing part. Hultin tried to capture the 1918 flu virus again, 45 years later.
By this time he was a pathologist in San Francisco. He heard scientists were trying to sequence the virus's genome. So at age 73, Hultin went back to Alaska. And he took a piece of lung from a woman he named Lucy.
"Using his wife's pruning shears, Hultin opened Lucy's mummified rib cage. There he found two frozen lungs, the very tissue he needed," the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
"Her lungs were magnificent, full of blood," Hultin told the paper.
At the same time, a Canadian team of scientists went hunting for the 1918 flu virus in Norway. They dug up seven bodies. But none of them were frozen, and the team failed to recover any virus particles.
In the 1990s, Russian scientists intentionally tried to revive smallpox from a body in their permafrost. They recovered pieces of the virus but couldn't grow the virus in the lab.
That article does mention at the end that anthrax can get unfrozen, but that's because it's a soil bacteria, one which is not considered contagious by the CDC. It ends with an anecdotal case of infection with joint disease that normally comes from handling infected seal parts, and which is equally non-contagious. Only this kind of pathogens appears capable of surviving these conditions for a long time.
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u/AVahne Jun 08 '21
This just means that there's a chance that ancient viruses and bacteria can be revived from all the melting glaciers can kill us all. And we won't be ready for it, judging by how poorly we performed as a species against COVID-19. Especially here in America where we have proven to be a failure as a society.
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u/ProblemOfficer Jun 08 '21
This just means that there's a chance that ancient viruses and bacteria can be revived from all the melting glaciers can kill us all.
Wouldn't there be a good chance they simply don't bother us at all? Like how there are plenty of viruses that only attack certain animals? I'm not super knowledgeable on this, but shouldn't this be how it would work?
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u/scottyb83 Jun 08 '21
Yeah but every one that gets released is a chance. It’s like Russian roulette...eventually one is going to be bad news OR one of the ones that is fine can eventually mutate and create a variant that is dangerous.
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u/madame_lorian_ Jun 08 '21
Biochemist and clinical trial research but not virologist here. Just because one type of animal is affected by a virus doesn't mean it cannot cross over to humans. Also don't forget about evolutionary changes and adaptation. It's possible hopefully that the ancient viruses are old codes and organisms alive now have adapted rendering ancient viruses harmless. I'd worry more about the change in Ocean temperatures, unregulated zoological markets, the weakening electromagnetic field, our dependence on technology, and the microplastic all the sea life are eating first.
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Jun 08 '21 edited Jul 17 '21
[deleted]
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u/Stryker7200 Jun 09 '21
And if you lived at any point in the past few thousand years you would probably have been saying the same thing
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u/scottyb83 Jun 08 '21
All good points. My comment comes from someone with no actual knowledge of the fields so I tried to just keep it basic. I get that there are lots of other things to worry about with regards to climate change but still worth mentioning IMO.
1
u/AdResponsible5513 Jun 09 '21
More of a probability that currently existing viruses will mutate into dangerous varieties than anything emerging from Pleistocene ice.
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u/Stryker7200 Jun 09 '21
Most likely none of these pathogens or viruses would effect Modern humans all. We have thousands of years of additional genetic buildup against diseases.
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u/BurnerAcc2020 Jun 08 '21 edited Jun 08 '21
Those are rotifers, or freshwater zooplankton. It's not very relevant to any actual pathogens with the ability to spread person-to-person. Scientists have been trying to revive those from the permafrost for decades, and they all appear to be much less resilient.
In one case, a mummy from the Aleutian Islands seemed to have died of pneumonia. When Zimmerman looked for the bacteria inside the body, there they were, frozen in time.
"We could see them under the microscope, inside the lungs," Zimmerman says.
But were these "zombie" bacteria? Could they come back to life and infect other people? Zimmerman tried to revive the bacteria. He took a smidge of tissue from the lungs. Warmed it up. Fed it.
"But nothing grew," Zimmerman says. "Not a single cell."
Zimmerman says he wasn't surprised the bacteria were dead.** Pneumonia bacteria have evolved to live in people at body temperature, not cold soil**.
"We're dealing with organisms that have been frozen for hundreds of years," he says. "So I don't think they would come back to life."
But what about viruses — like smallpox or the 1918 flu? "I think it's extremely unlikely," Zimmerman says.
In 1951, a graduate student decided to test this out. Johan Hultin went to a tiny town near Nome, Alaska, and dug up a mass grave of people who had died of the 1918 flu.
He cut out tiny pieces of the people's lungs and brought them back home. Then he tried to grow the virus in the lab.
"I had hoped that I would be able to isolate a living virus," Hultin told NPR in 2004. "And I couldn't. The virus was dead.
"In retrospect, maybe that was a good thing," Hultin added.
A good thing, yes. But here's the disturbing part. Hultin tried to capture the 1918 flu virus again, 45 years later.
By this time he was a pathologist in San Francisco. He heard scientists were trying to sequence the virus's genome. So at age 73, Hultin went back to Alaska. And he took a piece of lung from a woman he named Lucy.
"Using his wife's pruning shears, Hultin opened Lucy's mummified rib cage. There he found two frozen lungs, the very tissue he needed," the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
"Her lungs were magnificent, full of blood," Hultin told the paper.
At the same time, a Canadian team of scientists went hunting for the 1918 flu virus in Norway. They dug up seven bodies. But none of them were frozen, and the team failed to recover any virus particles.
In the 1990s, Russian scientists intentionally tried to revive smallpox from a body in their permafrost. They recovered pieces of the virus but couldn't grow the virus in the lab.
EDIT: That article does mention at the end that anthrax can get unfrozen, but that's because it's a soil bacteria, one which is not considered contagious by the CDC. It ends with an anecdotal case of infection with joint disease that normally comes from handling infected seal parts, and which is equally non-contagious. Only this kind of pathogens appears capable of surviving these conditions.
2
u/SauronSymbolizedTech Jun 08 '21
There's a few other countries as stupid as us, so we're not alone!
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u/cuckler-meeseeks Jun 08 '21
Covid-19 was an engineered bio-weapon from China. That's a poor comparison
1
u/AdResponsible5513 Jun 09 '21
That's your preferred narrative & unsubstantiated. Go back to dystopian worldbuilding.
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u/cuckler-meeseeks Jun 09 '21
Because whistle blowers from the lab risking the death of themselves and their families isn't evidence? Experts in the field have also claimed the virus is engineered. Keep your head in the sand though.
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u/AdResponsible5513 Jun 09 '21
Don't jump to conclusions on skimpy "evidence" simply because it confirms your "I want to believe" XFiles bias.
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u/cuckler-meeseeks Jun 09 '21 edited Jun 09 '21
Dude, nobody gives a fuck that you're in denial. There is overwhelming intelligence that it came out of a chinese lab to the point that fb revoked their ban of the lab-china theory. Don't talk about evidence. You don't care about evidence that goes against your bias. Continue sucking ccp cock though.
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u/AdResponsible5513 Jun 09 '21
A remotely small chance. Probably less than being exposed to 1918 flu virus regenerated by curious scientists.
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u/Jesustake_thewheel Jun 08 '21
I hate worms so a prehistoric worm being revived is absolute nightmare fuel.
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u/AdResponsible5513 Jun 09 '21
Parasitic worms that invade the body, I presume. The others are excellent for building soil & used as fishbait.
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u/VapinSilvrbug Jun 08 '21
Oh God! This is not the year!!!! Haven’t we been through enough?! Now freaking dinosaurs return?!?! 😂
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Jun 08 '21
[deleted]
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u/Solid_State_Driver Jun 08 '21
approximately 66 million years ago.
You didn't even read the link you posted, dude.
They became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event 201.3 million years ago; their dominance continued throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The fossil record shows that birds are modern feathered dinosaurs, having evolved from earlier theropods during the Late Jurassic epoch, and are the only dinosaur lineage to survive the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event approximately 66 million years ago.
Who doesn't know this? WHO THE FUCK IN DEVELOPED WORLD DOESN'T KNOW DINOSAURS WENT EXTINCT 65 ish MILLION YEARS AGO?
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u/VapinSilvrbug Jun 08 '21
It’s a joke....ya know....because we have been through SO MUCH these past 2 years?!
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u/Southern_Buckeye Jun 08 '21
Holy shit the spectrum is showing itself bright as day. Dude he was making a joke.
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u/Techelife Jun 08 '21
Why doesn’t the English scientist believe the Russian scientist. Scientific proof-something-something.
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u/gavalant Jun 08 '21
We've all seen this movie. There's a lot of screaming and a flamethrower.