Giant virus revived from ancient permafrost

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Scientists have discovered a new type of virus in 30,000-year-old permafrost and managed to revive it, producing an infection.

Fortunately, the new virus, named Pithovirus sibericum, infects amoebas and is not harmful to humans.

But its ability to become infectious again after so many millenniums is a warning, writes Jean-Michel Claverie at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique at Aix-Marseille University and his colleagues in a new study published Monday..

"The revival of such an ancestral amoeba infecting virus … suggests that the thawing of permafrost either from global warming or industrial exploitation of circumpolar regions might not be exempt from future threats to human or animal health," they wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

From: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/giant-virus-revived-from-ancient-permafrost-1.2558417

[WhiteTara]

1. Oh Great! It is always something. nt

[glinda]

23. Yea right like amoebas have no purpose?????????

[WhiteTara]

25. The OP calls them viruses

not amoebas...

[FailureToCommunicate]

2. Thawing permafrost is a bad bad thing to do...

[Yo_Mama]

3. Who wouldn't think of that movie?

It was the first thing that crossed my mind.

[paleotn]

13. Got that right....

....I like the '82 version best of all.

[TheNutcracker]

27. I have a family member deceased now, who starred in that movie.

The "thing" broke out of his chest. Took several days and body casts to make that scene.

[FailureToCommunicate]

29. Welcome to DU!

The Vance Norris character?

Very cool to be related to such an accomplished actor!

[raccoon]

32. Scared the beejeezus out of me. Movie based on "Who Goes There" by John W. Campbell.nt

[glinda]

24. Melting permafrost is a chain reaction that cannot be stopped as I understand.

Thus releasing methane gases that will kill everything.
NICE GOING ASSHATS!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ghost Dog]

30. That is so.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

4. Find a virus and the first thing one does is thaw it out?

Something about throwing caution to the wind or something ring a bell?

[stuntcat]

5. I'm sorry this one won't do it, but massive plague is the planet's best hope now.

Any hope for all the rest of the life forms, I mean.

[AlbertCat]

18. As Carl Sagan once pointed out....

.... we can do something about overpopulation



or we can leave it up to Mother Nature. But her solution usually involves famine and plagues.

[The Blue Flower]

6. What could possibly go wrong?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

7. Scary, about the thawing of the permafrost bringing to "life" some of these frozen viruses nt

[Auggie]

9. Sounds like a quicker avenue to massive death than famine ...

oh boy ...

[OnyxCollie]

10. I'm betting on Death to win, Famine to place, and Plague to show.

[pscot]

34. We mustn't forget War

[Sarah Ibarruri]

22. That's like saying, Oh well you have cancer, it's better than getting shot nt

[Auggie]

31. ?

I suggest there could be more deaths caused by viruses than by starvation as the climate changes. Both are ugly ways to die. As are by cancer and bullets.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

33. I agree with you. Viruses could definitely do in too many people to even imagine. nt

[mindwalker_i]

8. Already been done

That's where we get McCain and Rumsfeld.

[mountain grammy]

14. Cheney too! especially Cheney.

now there's an amoeba sucking virus for ya.

[mindwalker_i]

20. That's true!

And he has that evil, virus-like quality to him.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. How many read that title and thought of this?

[AnnieBW]

12. Didn't Michael Chricton write a book about this?

Yeah, "The Andromeda Strain".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain

[raven mad]

15. Come on up to UAF - and watch

permafrost in action. It really does encapsulate everything good - or bad - including "black plague".

It makes the ground kinda mushy in spring. If you get a spring.

[Triana]

16. Dumb humans are going to destroy themselves

one way or another. They just don't know when to stop.

[AdHocSolver]

26. Correction! THEY, our stupid, greedy rulers, the 1 percent, are going to destroy US.

Last edited Tue Mar 4, 2014, 01:45 AM - Edit history (1)

The evidence is abundant for the destructive side effects of global climate change, which is exacerbated by human activities, and the life-threatening effects of massive environmental pollution, such as ocean acidification, and the poisons added daily to our air, water, and food.

The blame for poisoning our world rests mainly on the bankers and capitalists of Wall Street and their lackeys in government and the media who do their bidding.

Examples of stupid humans abound, such as the Creationists who believe that their deity would plant fossils for humans to find, fossils which demonstrate that the Earth has existed for (at least) millions of years, just to test the Creationists faith in their bible when it claims that the Earth is only about 6,000 years old.

However, the wasteful extraction and use of fossil fuels, and the devastation that it causes, is solely the fault of The Powers That Be.

[mountain grammy]

17. You mean the polar vortex won't kill every creepy creature?

[1StrongBlackMan]

19. Well ...

Fortunately, the new virus, named Pithovirus sibericum, infects amoebas and is not harmful to humans.

Did they forget the "Yet" part?

[NewJeffCT]

21. Sounds like how the zombie apocalypse will start

ancient virus released upon humans, and the dead start rising...

[defacto7]

28. Dire warning.

But joke at will if it makes you feel better and you've got nothing better to do.