The World's Largest Virus Resurrected From 34,000-Year-Old Permafrost

[Rayaan]

Deep within the Siberian permafrost, nearly 100 feet underneath the frozen ground, it sat dormant, for centuries and centuries. Above ground, the glaciers receded, ancient humans arrived, and eventually, civilization developed.

Now, it's been thawed and revived, thanks to a team of French scientists. It's a virus, and its zombie-like resurrection goes to show that the microbes can persist for far longer than scientists have previously imagined.

Until 2003, it was thought that all viruses were tiny - completely invisible under a standard light microscope and a fraction of the size of most bacterial cells. Since, several giant viruses have been discovered, including pandoraviruses, discovered by Claverie and Abergel in a water sample collected off the coast of Chile, which held the size record with a length of about one micrometer, or one-thousandth of a millimeter.

But their new virus Pithovirus sibericum, described in a paper published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is an astonishing 1.5 micrometers long, between 10 and 100 times as large as the average-sized virus. Under a microscope, it's easily visible as an oval rimmed by a dark black envelope with a perforated plug at the end, about the size of a bacterial cell.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-na...32/?no-ist

[Minimalist]

Deep within the Siberian permafrost, nearly 100 feet underneath the frozen ground, it sat dormant, for centuries and centuries.

Sounds like the trailer for the next Godzilla movie.

Will it attack Tokyo?

[StuW]

#whatcouldpossiblygowrong

[eyemixer]

What I found to be the frightening takeaway from the article:

But even though this particular virus poses no human health threat, its discovery raises unsettling questions. "[This] is a good demonstration that the notion that a virus could be 'eradicated' from the planet is plain wrong, and give us a false sense of security," Claverie says. As the Arctic and subarctic warm, "mining and drilling mean bringing human settlements and digging through these ancient layers for the first time in millions of years. If viable virions are still there, this is a good recipe for disaster."

The BBC article where I initially read the story mentions ancient strains of smallpox as a possible danger.

[My imaginary friend is GOD]

But that article doesn't say exactly how big this virus is supposed to be.

[popeyespappy]

Deep within the Siberian permafrost, nearly 100 feet underneath the frozen ground, it sat dormant, for centuries and centuries.

[frankiej]

The BBC article where I initially read the story mentions ancient strains of smallpox as a possible danger.

Awesome. Smallpox is my favourite.

[eyemixer]

But that article doesn't say exactly how big this virus is supposed to be.

1.5 micrometres in length

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26387276

[Wyrd of Gawd]

#whatcouldpossiblygowrong

This is going to make a great real-life movie. Scientists have been working on self-replicating robots. In the meantime other guys are going around the world resurrecting ancient viruses and bacteria. The self-replicating robots come on line just before the ancient viruses and bacteria wipe out humanity. Humanity's descendants will be robots. And they will worship humans as their god.

[Marsellus Wallace]

Remember the T-virus ? "It poses no danger to humans" they said .





You were warned!

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