They were thawed after 42,000 years. They come back to life, move and eat

The "Siberian Times" is an unusual event for science. Frozen nematodes were studied by Russian scientists from Moscow in collaboration with experts from Princeton University. About 300 individuals were taken under the microscope. Two of them – the females – give signs of life – move and eat. One of the invertebrates was found in a squirrel hollow and it is about 32 thousand years old. The second was found in the permafrost near the Alazeja River. His age, in turn, is estimated at 42,000 years.

One of the scientists in an interview with the "Siberian Times" reported that everything indicates that multicellular organisms can survive for a long time – several decades – under conditions of natural conservation. – It is obvious that this shows that Pleistocene nematodes have mechanisms of adaptation that may be important for science, especially for cryomedicine, cryobiology and astrobiology – pointed out the expert .

Nematodes are invertebrate animals that inhabit the aquatic environment, but also the soil. Some species live in interstitial waters that are up to 3.6 km below the surface of the Earth – deeper than any known multicellular organism.