Scientists revive prehistoric roundworms

[Lucidus]

Smithsonian Magazine

From 46,000-year-old Siberian permafrost, a team of researchers has collected and revived prehistoric roundworms, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal PLOS Genetics.

The parasitic microorganisms seem to have remained alive by entering a state called cryptobiosis, in which they reduce their metabolism to extremely low levels to withstand extreme conditions. Essentially, the worms were frozen in time.

The researchers calculated the age of the roundworms, or nematodes, by radiocarbon dating plant material also found in the permafrost. They determined the organisms are members of a previously unknown species, which they’ve dubbed Panagrolaimus kolymaensis, after the Kolyma River near the site the worms were found.

“We can say that they are alive, because they move, they eat bacteria on the culture plates, and they reproduce,” Philipp Schiffer, a co-author of the study and evolutionary biologist at the University of Cologne in Germany, tells the Washington Post’s Carolyn Y. Johnson.

“To have a complex and multicellular organism that can shut down and go into this state of suspended animation—for all extents and purposes appear dead... that’s mind-boggling,” says Thomas Boothby, a molecular biologist at the University of Wyoming who didn’t contribute to the research, to the Wall Street Journal’s Dominique Mosbergen.

Full article @ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-revive-46000-year-old-roundworms-from-siberian-permafrost-180982620/

[NATI BENGALS]

Let’s hope they are not infectious and this didn’t happen in a Chinese lab.


I’ve always thought genetic engineering would be necessary for deep space travel so we could do the whole cryogenics thing and freeze people who have been genetically modified to survive it.

Pretty sure 46,000 years is the longest I’ve heard of something coming back to life after being frozen.

[GMDino]

[StoneTheCrow]

Can we just…not? Put ‘em back!

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

Do you want zombies? Because this is how you get zombies.

[Dill]

(07-29-2023, 10:43 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Do you want zombies? Because this is how you get zombies.

So long as they are not zombies created by fungal parasites, I think we can manage.

[Dill]

(07-29-2023, 11:13 AM)StoneTheCrow Wrote: Can we just…not? Put ‘em back!

If the permafrost in which they were found is flowing into the 

Kolyma river, then maybe it's a good idea to know more about them--



Not to mention the medical advantages of learning what has enabled them

to survive 40,000+ years of deep freeze.