Researchers revived microbes frozen for 40,000 years from an Alaskan military permafrost tunnel. Incubated at cool temperatures simulating summer conditions, the microbes initially grew slowly but became active after six months, offering insights into ancient life and climate resilience
Pathways in the permafrost tunnel facility. PIC/BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Ancient life has been resurrected from the bowels of a military tunnel that penetrates the Alaskan permafrost. Some of the microbes thawed from these long-frozen soils have been trapped for 40,000 years.
Researchers collected frozen samples from the US Army Corps of Engineers’ bizarre Permafrost Tunnel Research Facility, which descends more than 100 metres underground.
Back in the lab, they incubated the microscopic life at a cool 3.8 degrees Celsius and 12.2 degrees Celsius, simulating the conditions of an Alaskan summer under climate change. The microbes grew sluggishly at first, with some strains replacing just one in every 100,000 cells daily.
For comparison, most lab-grown bacterial strains tend to entirely replace their colonies in a matter of hours. At six months, however, the permafrost microbes jumped into action, as if finally convinced to get out of their frosty beds.
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