Giant Virus Resurrected From Siberian Permafrost After 30,000 Years A mysterious giant virus buried for 30,000 years in Siberian permafrost has been resurrected. The new discovery raises the possibility that as the climate warms and exploration expands in long-untouched regions of Siberia, humans could release ancient or eradicated viruses. These could include Neanderthal viruses or even smallpox viruses that have lain dormant in the ice for thousands of years. "If they have been extinct for a long time, then our immune system is no longer prepared to respond to them." study co-author Jean-Michel Claverie, a bioinformatics researcher at Aix-Marseille University in France, wrote in an email. In recent years, Claverie and his colleagues have discovered a host of giant viruses, which are as big as bacteria but lack characteristic cellular machinery and metabolism of those microorganisms. In the researchers' hunt for more unknown pathogens, they took a second look at permafrost samples collected from Kolyma in the Russian Far East in 2000. Because the permafrost was layered along steep cliffs, drillers could extract samples from 30,000 years ago by drilling horizontally into the ice, thereby avoiding contamination from newer samples. The team then took samples of this permafrost and put them in contact with amoebas (blob-like single-celled organisms) in Petri dishes. The researchers then waited to see what happened. Some of the amoebas burst open and died. When the scientists investigated further, they found a virus had killed the amoebas. This pathogen belongs to a previously unknown family of viruses, now dubbed Pithovirus. full article
Replace "space station" with "antarctic research station" and this is quite literally the plot to the movie "Life" (no, not the Eddie Murphy one)
Don't worry, the fire still burning after 50 years in Centralia Pennsylvania should kill it. 50 years! WTF is the fire department doing out there.
No biggie, perfectly safe, that's only 2.1miles deep. Everyone knows that 2.2 miles deep is where you can't grab stuff with your bare hands. ....... ....... .......