Prehistoric worms return to life after 42,000 years of freezing: Biology: Nature World News

July 27, 2018 02:22 EDT

Scientists have brought the "dead" back to life in a groundbreaking study that saw Siberian ascaris survive 42,000 years of freezing.

Cryogenics has long been the subject of science fiction, but new research proves that this could be part of the future. A pair of nematodes survived thousands and thousands of years in permafrost, waking up in an entirely new world in 2018.

Worms revived after natural cryopreservation

In the study published in the journal Doklady Biological Sciences Russian scientists, in collaboration with Princeton University, reveal that their research is the first to demonstrate the ability of multicellular organisms to resist cryobiosis in the long term.

According to Siberian Times, about 300 permafrost samples were collected. two sites in Siberia. Surprisingly, two of the samples contain nematodes that come back to life after being thawed.

The surviving nematodes – all females – are now the oldest living creatures on Earth, having lived long in the Pleistocene. Even more impressive, the pair actually moves on the Petri dishes and even eats.

The first sample came from an old squirrel burrow near the Kolyma River, estimated at 32,000 years old, while the other was collected near Alazeya. River and determined to be around 41,700 years old, or about 1,400 years old

Scientists point out that the soil of these areas only thawed up to 2.6 feet each year, and the last time that it thawed more than 4.9 feet. There are IFLScience reports. Thus, the newly discovered nematodes do not represent modern nematodes that have infiltrated the permafrost.

"Our data demonstrate the ability of multicellular organisms to survive long-term cryoconiosis (tens of thousands of years) under conditions of natural cryopreservation.," Scientists wrote in the newspaper, according to Siberian Times. "It is evident that this ability suggests that Pleistocene nematodes have mechanisms of adaptation that may be of scientific and practical importance to related scientific fields, such as cryomedicine, cryobiology and astrobiology."

The Powers of Nematodes

] To be fair, nematodes or roundworms have long been hailed as a beast in survival. According to IFLScience, the phylum is known for its ability to withstand extreme conditions.

A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in February 2002 reveals that these creatures have developed the ability of cryoprotective dehydration, which is the process of expulsion of the water from their cells when temperatures drop to freezing. With this adaptation, there is no water left to freeze, dilate and destroy the cells.