Scientists have now identified yet another giant virus, this time using a technique that sounds like it’s straight out of a sci-fi horror flick: they thawed some 30,000-year-old permafrost and allowed any viruses present to infect some cells. Fortunately, the cells were amoebas, and this virus is overwhelmingly unlikely to present a threat to human health. But the fact that viruses could apparently survive so many centuries in the Siberian permafrost does lead the authors to suggest that the melting Arctic may pose an emerging disease risk.
via Ars Technica
