Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Rapidly-defrosting Siberia yields huge, 30,000 year old virus - and it's alive!

Researchers in Siberia have uncovered and revived (say what!) a 30,000 year old giant virus sparking concern that increased mining and oil drilling in the rapidly-defrosting area could inadvertently release a similar virus that could one day prove harmful to man. The mammoth virus belongs to a new family of mega-viruses that thankfully, only infect amoeba. But researchers say its revival in a laboratory stands as “a proof of principle that we could eventually resurrect active infectious viruses from different periods.”

Rapidly-defrosting Siberia yields huge, 30,000 year old virus - and it's alive!

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