5 ancient organisms resurrected by science
185Have you heard of organism revival? It occurs when very old bacteria that have been frozen come back to life, and in addition to being kind of creepy, it can also be dangerous. In this video, we discuss some of these cases of prehistoric microbial coming back to life after spending years being frozen.
In 2021, a microscopic multi-celled organism known as a “bdelloid rotifer” returned to life after being frozen for 24,000 years in Siberia. It was even able to reproduce asexually. Are you creeped out yet? Then you may not want to know that in 2020, deep in the sediment of the South Pacific Gyre, scientists were able to find and revive microscopic organisms that had been asleep for 100 million years.
These microbes are among the oldest living organisms ever found and were brought back to life by being fed carbon and nitrogen. They soon began to eat and multiply. Scary!
Then, in 2018, 98 feet (30m) deep in the permanently frozen soil of the Arctic, scientists discovered sleeping nematodes or roundworms. They were revived after a 42,000-year-long nap.
And that’s not all. There are even more examples of ancient bacteria returning to haunt us. Is this a good development or a scary one? Watch our video to find out more and decide for yourself.
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