As if 2021 has not brought enough surprises already, an unusual case went viral on the internet, which read more like a science-fiction script. In 2018, the results of a Russian investigation that lasted about 16 years, they managed to revive two prehistoric worms from 31,000 and 41,700 years ago.
It all began when researchers started collecting samples in permafrost sediments, which consist of permanently frozen layers of soil, and detected the presence of thousands of worms, most different sizes, in 300 blocks of ice. Then, researchers began that analyzed the species.
The scientists took these collected samples to the laboratory, dividing and keeping them frozen in a refrigerator reserved for this work. Then, the next step was to place the pieces at a temperature of 68° F for several weeks. Afterwards, researchers noted the changes faced by the ice blocks and, consequently, by the organisms that lived in them.
The research was divided into two parts, one taking place in a laboratory at the Institute of Physico-Chemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science, in Siberia, and the other at Princeton University, in New Jersey. The conclusion was that the behavior varied widely. After many weeks, one of the scientists involved in the investigation discovered that two of these worms moved, showing a surprising sign of life.
Then, the scientists came to the conclusion that the activity was a result of a food search, and they began to feed with the rations provided by the team. New tests were carried out, determining that one of the creatures was an invertebrate that belonged to the genus Plectus, 41,700 years old, and the other of the genus Panagrolaimus, a nematode from 32 thousand years ago.
While the first was found near the Alazeya River in 2015, the second was found in a squirrel’s lair in 2002, near the Kolyma River, both in Russia’s Yakutia region, known to be one of the coldest in the world.
This is not the first time such an ancient living being has been thawed. In the year 2000, North American researchers resuscitated a set bacteria spores belonging to the genus Bacillus, which were found in formations of salt crystals 250 million years old. Now, scientists are concerned about the possibility of reviving pathogenic organisms that can affect humans.
