As the planet gets warmer and permafrost begins to thaw, researchers are finding some extremely old organisms that have been frozen for millenia. Now they’ve resurrected one that was frozen for thousands upon thousands of years.
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00:00 As the planet gets warmer and permafrost begins to thaw, researchers are finding some extremely
00:08 old organisms that have been frozen for millennia.
00:11 Back in 2018, they unearthed some nematodes in Siberia, estimating they were some 32,000
00:16 years old.
00:17 Now, using radiocarbon dating, they've discovered they're even far older than that.
00:21 The genus is called Pantagrolimus, and now experts say they are from the Pleistocene
00:26 era, or a period on Earth around 46,000 years ago.
00:30 What's even crazier, the nematodes were revived after being thawed out, meaning they are now
00:34 the longest known creatures to have remained in cryobiosis ever.
00:39 And that's massive news, as the previous record holders were modern worms, ones which
00:43 have been documented as undergoing cryobiosis for just 39 years.
00:47 The nematodes were found some 131 feet underground, with the study's authors saying about the
00:52 find, quote, "This indicates that by adapting to survive cryobiotic state for short timeframes,
00:57 in environments like permafrost, some nematode species gain the potential for individual
01:02 worms to remain in the state for geological timeframes."
01:05 Now they're searching for what possible upper limit there might be for cryobiosis, hoping
01:09 to unlock the secret to safely freezing cells.
01:12 [music]