Our research over the last ten years has reliably and reproducibly demonstrated that viruses can remain infectious after tens of thousands of years of freezing (48,000 years) in deep permafrost [1-3]. For obvious health safety reasons, our work was restricted to viruses infecting amoebae, but there is no reason why this conclusion could not be applied to other DNA viruses (classified in the same phylum, such as poxviruses, iridoviruses, or asfarviruses) causing diseases in humans or animals...

Threat of outbreak from microbes trapped in permafrost for millennia raised by increased Siberian shipping activity

Jean-Michel Claverie et Chantal Abergel traquent les germes infectieux enfouis dans le permafrost. Avec le réchauffement planétaire, ces agents pathogènes très dangeureux pourraient être libérés

CNN Resurrection biology — attempting to bring strings of molecules and more complex organisms back to life — is gaining traction in labs around the world. The work is a far cry from the genetically engineered dinosaurs that escape in the blockbuster movie “Jurassic Park,” although for some scientists the ultimate goal is de-extinction and resurrecting animals and plants that have been lost. Other researchers are looking to the past for new sources of drugs or to sound an alarm about the possibility of long-dormant pathogens. The field of study is also about recreating elements of human history in an attempt to better understand how our ancestors might have lived and died. Here are four fascinating research projects in this emerging field that launched or made significant progress in 2023. Reviving ‘zombie’ viruses Warmer temperatures in the Arctic are thawing the region’s permafrost — a frozen layer of soil beneath the ground — and potentially stirring viruses that, after lying dormant for tens of thousands of years, could endanger animal and human health. Jean-Michel Claverie, a professor emeritus of medicine and genomics at the Aix-Marseille University School of Medicine in Marseille, France, is seeking to better understand the risks posed by what he describes as “zombie viruses” by resurrecting viruses from earth samples from Siberia.