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Scientists Revive 40,000-Year-Old Microbes from Alaska Permafrost
Ancient microbes frozen for up to 40,000 years slowly revive after thawing, potentially increasing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change risks, researchers found.
- Scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder are reviving ancient microbes trapped in Arctic ice for 40,000 years.
- The microbes were extracted from Alaskan permafrost at the Permafrost Tunnel Research Facility near Fairbanks, which also contains Ice Age mammoth bones.
- After six months, some microbes began producing biofilms, indicating their capability to become active after warm periods.
- Research shows that melting permafrost releases greenhouse gases and potential pathogens, leading to threats to human health.
20 Articles
20 Articles
Alaska Native News
University of Colorado BoulderResearchers wake up microbes trapped in permafrost for thousands of years
In a new study, a team of geologists and biologists led by CU Boulder resurrected ancient microbes that had been trapped in ice—in some cases for around 40,000 years. The study is a showcase for the planet’s permafrost. That’s the name for a frozen mix of soil, ice and rocks that underlies nearly a quarter of […]
Scientists wake up microbes trapped in Arctic permafrost for 40,000 years
Far beneath the icy Alaskan tundra, life lay dormant for tens of thousands of years. In ice-laden soil called permafrost, microbes of old slumbered in the dark, entombed with the mammoths and bison. When the Arctic is heating up, that icy tomb is now starting to melt—and the microbes slowly waking up with it. Permafrost is more than frozen ground. It is a natural refrigerator with huge reservoirs of carbon, bigger even than today’s supply in the…
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