- Two years ago, Russian scientists discovered round worms in 40,000 year old soil samples.
- The worms may have been introduced at some point during collection or study of the samples.
As global warming assaults the planet, the arctic permafrost release some long-hidden treasures. We’ve written about the mammoth-tusk hunters, and Russians also found a preserved 50,000-year-old lion cub. For fans of the Jurassic Park series, these discoveries are even more exciting because we jump to prehistoric DNA bringing ancient beasts back to life. Unfortunately, that process is a little more complicated than Mr. D.N.A makes it seem.
Theoretically Possible, But Not Probable
But suppose a specimen is frozen enough and simple enough. In that case, it might come back to life with just a little thawing and rehydrating (forty millennia in ice will dry you out like you wouldn’t believe). A few years ago, Russian scientists taking soil samples from the permafrost discovered prehistoric roundworms. The two samples came from 100 feet and 15 down, deeper than modern roundworms can burrow because of the soil’s frozen condition. Yearly frosts only reach three feet down.
After discovering the frozen roundworms, scientists placed them into Petri dishes in an “enrichment culture.” After a few weeks, the worms began to feed and move.
For several reasons, the scientific community remains skeptical of the discovery. Conditions would have to be absolutely perfect for the roundworms to freeze without sustaining permanent damage to their biological systems. Out of the 300 samples taken, only two had worms. Scientists thawed, studied, and put those samples back into storage before the worms were detected.
Skepticism from the Scientific Community
Contamination could have introduced the worms during the initial observation, frozen, and “rediscovered” when researchers studied the worms a second time. Dr. Jaquelin Gill, an ice age ecologist, did a takedown of the report on Twitter, which Futurism later summarized. The initial article at The Smithsonian Magazine doesn’t have any follow-up, so chances are peer review quietly disproved the discovery.
But emerging mammoth skeletons and cave lion cubs proves that there are all kinds of relics from 50,000 years ago, just feet below the surface of the arctic. As the planet warms, they breach the soil surface carrying ancient secrets with them. We don’t need to bring them back to life to learn plenty. Like how climate change can cause mass extinction events, wiping out everyone from worms to mammoths.