Scientists have unearthed the remnants of more than 1,700 viruses from deep inside a glacier in western China. Most of these viruses are new to science.

With this discovery, the number of ancient viruses recovered from glaciers has grown fiftyfold.The viruses, gathered from a 1,000-foot ice core taken from the sprawling Guliya Glacier on the Tibetan Plateau, date back 41,000 years and span three major shifts from cold to warm.

  • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    2 months ago

    Can’t wait for us to figure out one of them is still virulent, and it’s out in the world now being passed around.

    • DirigibleProtein@aussie.zoneEnglish
      102·
      2 months ago

      Well, they were discovered in China, so it won’t take long, but they won’t tell anyone until it’s been spread to other countries.