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Scientists Just Revived Creatures Frozen in the Arctic For 24,000 Years
These little creatures were frozen in the arctic for 24,000 years! And upon revival, some began reproducing asexually.
Science & Tech
Roughly 24,000 years ago, a collective of microscopic creatures was frozen helplessly into a deep layer of Siberian permafrost, and experienced slowed biological activity, called suspended animation. But now they're waking up.
Scientists are reviving the microbial critters called bdelloid rotifers after an unconscionably long hibernation, according to a new study published in the journal Current Biology.
And, they are reproducing.
In nature, some organisms are preserved in suspended animation for hundreds to tens of thousands of years. Antarctic moss stems more than one thousand years old were successfully regrown from a sample covered in ice for roughly 400 years. Entire companion plants were likewise regrown from seed tissue recovered from 32,000-year-old permafrost. Nematodes were brought back to life from source sediments that date back more than 30,000 years. But the microscopic and multicellular Bdelloid rotifers are renowned in scientific circles for their unique ability to withstand unbelievably low temperatures.