Slashdot Mirror
Scientists Resurrect 40,000-Year-Old Worms Buried In Ice (gizmodo.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Earlier this month, in the journal Doklady Biological Sciences, a team of Russian scientists announced they had apparently discovered ancient nematode worms that were able to resurrect themselves after spending at least 32,000 years buried in permafrost. The discovery, if legitimate, would represent the longest-surviving return from the cold ever seen in a complex, multi-celled organism, dwarfing even the tardigrade. The worms were found among more than 300 samples of frozen soil pulled from the Kolyma River Lowlands in Northeastern Siberia by the researchers. Two of the samples held the worms, with one from a buried squirrel burrow dating back 32,000 years and one from a glacier dating back 40,000 years. After isolating intact nematodes, the scientists kept the samples at 68 degrees Fahrenheit and left them surrounded by food in a petri dish, just to see what would happen. Over the next few weeks, they gradually spotted flickers of life as the worms ate the food and even cloned new family members. These cloned worms were then cultured separately, and they too thrived.
Are these worms rare or threatened? I hope scientists are considering resurrecting species from this list.
I was recently fortunate to have an extraordinarily cute, 20-something science student resurrect a 53-year-old worm buried in her....um, never mind.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Haven't you seen X files?
I want that placed ERASED.
I for one, welcome our new nematode overlords.
...they might be surprised when they see a mobile phone.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
68 deg F == 20 deg C
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
We currently have 70 year old worm living in the White House.
Why would you do this? We mammals donâ(TM)t need to bring more parasites back from extinction.
...then there's all the running and screaming.
do me next!!
No thanks. I saw the John Carpenter movie. I know how this goes.
...you never know what kind of Thing those worms might turn out to be.
This is done by Russians, and this is Putin's attempt to get rid of heaven western world is, and it's superior ideals and superior people by genetically modifying these ancient worms to travel all the way to America (and their overlords, Israel), and attach themselves inside their human hosts after which the human host will start acting as a proxy to do Putin's work on bringing down America.
If you ignore this warning, Trump will be your president forever.
politicizing basic science makes you look like a bit of a d
The worms came back all by themselves. All the scientists did was turn up the temperature.
Oh great. Now we have retro worms to worry about?
Brain worms!
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and after strange eons even death may die."
DOOOOOMED!
Was that the one with the loggers, or do you mean the one with the fluke on the submarine?
Republicans resurrected a 70+ year old worm to be our president.
Lovely... Russian zombie worms. Actually, that's probably the least of our worries. It does beg the question though... are Russians running out of worms? Is this some new, wild trend in keeping the populace fed? "Let them eat 40,000 year-old dead, zombified worms" just doesn't have the same ring to it as "let them eat cake". Does this make these the new oldest living things on Earth? Or does it not count to be alive, then alive 40,000 years later, if you were dead in the intervening time? Just curious.
Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
TRIGGERED
Itâ(TM)s the first season one that takes place in Northern Alaska. Basically an X-Files cover of Thing. Pretty good episode. I think itâ(TM)s called Ice.
Those zombies worms will be eaten by chicken and zombify them.
Those zombies chicken will be eaten by humans... and... the world war zombies will start the plague...
Run humans'!! Zombies are coming to eat your brains!!!
This reminds me of the episode where scientists unearth ancient parasitic worms from the ice that cause them to murder each other?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_(The_X-Files)
Not a good idea!
May his passing cleanse the world.
Makes you wonder what crime they had committed against the state for them to be sentenced to not just the gulag, but to be buried in the permafrost surrounding the gulag!
In Soviet Russia, scientists resurrect you!
So, does this qualify as the oldest living thing which is not a tree or a plant?
Then you probably shouldn't look too closely into how they measure the weather and do forecasting etc. Because it's all in C. They just convert it to F at the end so Americans don't get confused and can understand it.
ur funny. eu hotels arent 'murika. only 'murika matters. make 'murika greedy again.
Anyone else read the headline as "Scientists Resurrect 40,000-Year-Old WOMAN Buried In Ice "
Need the coffee to kick in...
Well, it gets colder, but once you're frozen, getti...
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
You mean the host?, who btw came from rusia.
I, for one, welcome our new resurrected nematode overlords.
Cool!
Who is pickling them in alcohol and serving Iceworm Specials?