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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00:00As the planet gets warmer and permafrost begins to thaw, researchers are finding some extremely
00:08old organisms that have been frozen for millennia.
00:11Back in 2018, they unearthed some nematodes in Siberia, estimating they were some 32,000
00:17years old.
00:18Now, using radiocarbon dating, they've discovered they're even far older than that.
00:22The genus is called Panagrolimus, and now experts say they are from the Pleistocene
00:26era, or a period on Earth around 46,000 years ago.
00:30What's even crazier?
00:31The nematodes were revived after being thawed out, meaning they are now the longest known
00:35creatures to have remained in cryobiosis ever.
00:39And that's massive news, as the previous record holders were modern worms, ones which
00:43have been documented as undergoing cryobiosis for just 39 years.
00:47The nematodes were found some 131 feet underground, with the study's authors saying about the
00:53This indicates that by adapting to survive cryobiotic state for short timeframes, in
00:57environments like permafrost, some nematode species gain the potential for individual
01:02worms to remain in the state for geological timeframes.
01:05Now they're searching for what possible upper limit there might be for cryobiosis, hoping
01:09to unlock the secret to safely freezing cells.