1srelluc
Diamond Member
Beneath the frozen ground in Fox, Alaska, an entire world of unknown organisms has been waiting - dormant for an estimated 40,000 years.
Scientists just woke them up.
Researchers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) have discovered 26 new species of microorganisms preserved in ancient permafrost.
The organisms had never been identified before.
The findings, detailed in an announcement published by the American Society for Microbiology in August, open a strange and compelling door: using ice-age biology to build real-world products for the U.S. military.
"We are discovering new bacteria that have never been discovered before," said Dr. Robyn Barbato, senior research microbiologist and leader of CRREL's soil microbiology team, in a Feb. 11 press release.
"Do you remember being enchanted by the animals that Jack Hanna would bring on late night TV? It's sort of like that. There are these organisms that we didn't even know existed that have been locked in frozen ice or permafrost," she added.
The 26 newly identified species were pulled from CRREL's Permafrost Tunnel Research Facility in Fox, Alaska, where they had been frozen and dormant for an estimated 40,000 years.
After extraction, the microbes were transported to CRREL's soil microbiology laboratory in Hanover, New Hampshire, where they were revived and studied.
These organisms are classified as extremophiles - a category of life that can survive in conditions most living things cannot: extreme cold, low nutrients, limited oxygen.
"Man, I'd not do that shit if I was you" comes to mind.
Then again Darwin is always there....Waiting.
Scientists just woke them up.
Researchers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) have discovered 26 new species of microorganisms preserved in ancient permafrost.
The organisms had never been identified before.
The findings, detailed in an announcement published by the American Society for Microbiology in August, open a strange and compelling door: using ice-age biology to build real-world products for the U.S. military.
"We are discovering new bacteria that have never been discovered before," said Dr. Robyn Barbato, senior research microbiologist and leader of CRREL's soil microbiology team, in a Feb. 11 press release.
"Do you remember being enchanted by the animals that Jack Hanna would bring on late night TV? It's sort of like that. There are these organisms that we didn't even know existed that have been locked in frozen ice or permafrost," she added.
The 26 newly identified species were pulled from CRREL's Permafrost Tunnel Research Facility in Fox, Alaska, where they had been frozen and dormant for an estimated 40,000 years.
After extraction, the microbes were transported to CRREL's soil microbiology laboratory in Hanover, New Hampshire, where they were revived and studied.
These organisms are classified as extremophiles - a category of life that can survive in conditions most living things cannot: extreme cold, low nutrients, limited oxygen.
"Man, I'd not do that shit if I was you" comes to mind.
Then again Darwin is always there....Waiting.
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