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Scientists claim to have found signs of life in two worms extracted from Siberian permafrost patches dating back 30,000 to 40,000 years.
The discovery was made by a group of Russian scientists from four different institutions in Moscow. collaboration with Princeton University. The aim of the study was to find out if multicellular organisms could be revived after a long period of dormancy in extreme cold.
For this, the group swept the icy north-east of Russia, collecting 300 samples of frozen ground perpetually beneath the surface. , known as permafrost
After collecting enough permafrost deposits of different ages and areas in Siberia, the group returned to the laboratory and attempted to revive the organisms inside the deposits. The locating organisms called soil nematodes inside the repositories, the scientists followed their progress after being extracted from their prehistoric and frozen homes and finally noticed very positive results.
![07_27_Siberia [19659006] An aerial view shows thermokarst lakes outside the town of Chersky in northeastern Siberia August 28, 2007. Scientists have found frozen worms in the regional permafrost that show signs of life. </span> <span clbad=](https://s.newsweek.com/sites/www.newsweek.com/files/styles/embed-lg/public/2018/07/27/0727siberia.jpg)
Dmitry Solovyov / Reuters "We obtained the first data demonstrating the ability of multicellular organisms for long-term cryobidosis in the permafrost deposits of the planet. Arctic, "Scientists published in the journal Doklady Biological Sciences stated:" The duration of natural cryopreservation of nematodes corresponds to the age of deposits, 30,000-40,000 years. "
Of all the samples, two scientists discovered one of the permafrost nematodes in a squirrel burrow dug in the surface of the outcrop of Duvanny Yar, near the Kolyma River, in Siberia.
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The oldest of the two viable nematodes was near the Alazeya River, in an environment dating back to 41,700 years old. Nematodes, identified as Rhabditida and Plectida are both considered female specimens of the species
The process of reviving them from their millennial slumber began in a Petri dish, where scientists have placed all the collected permafrost, broken into samples of 1 to 2 grams, which is less than a tenth of an ounce, and then stored at -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees F). The group then started growing the samples at 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), checking for vital signs among everything that had been buried in the prehistoric permafrost and remained stunned but not dead.
In two of the samples, the nematodes started to move and then eat the nutrients that the scientists fed. The group behind the project believes that their findings could have important implications in many areas.
Read more: Did the Sun come out over Siberia? Russians want answers on the obscuring mystery
"It is obvious that this ability suggests that Pleistocene nematodes have adaptive mechanisms that may be of scientific and practical importance for related scientific fields, such as cryomedicine Cryobiology and the implications of surviving microorganisms in the Earth's permafrost are not entirely positive, however A recent article in Scientific American warned that climate change and permafrost thaw could lead to malicious organisms, carriers of diseases for millennia, returning to our environment.
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