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.

  • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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    2 months ago

    Ancient viruses?! We’re all gonna die!

    Tap for spoiler

    Most viruses are completely harmless to humans. There are millions of species, of which only a few hundred are medically significant. I doubt these frozen viruses will have any noticeable impact on anything.