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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsScientists discovered over 30 viruses frozen in ice. Almost all of them have never been seen before.
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USA TODAY
@USATODAY
Ancient viruses were found frozen in two ice samples taken from the Tibetan Plateau in China and most of them are unlike anything ever seen before.
Scientists discovered over 30 viruses frozen in ice. Almost all of them have never been seen before.
The group of researchers from Ohio State found viruses with genetic codes that have never been discovered.
usatoday.com
6:05 PM · Jul 21, 2021
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/07/21/researchers-discover-28-never-before-seen-viruses-frozen-ice/8042635002/
A group of scientists discovered ancient viruses frozen in two ice samples taken from the Tibetan Plateau in China, and most of them are unlike anything ever seen before.
The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Microbiome, came from ice cores taken in 2015 that scientists said began to freeze at least 14,400 years ago.
These glaciers were formed gradually, and along with dust and gases, many, many viruses were also deposited in that ice," Zhi-Ping Zhong, lead author and researcher at the Ohio State University Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, said in a statement. "The glaciers in western China are not well-studied, and our goal is to use this information to reflect past environments. And viruses are a part of those environments."
When researchers analyzed the ice, they found genetic codes for 33 viruses. Of the 33, genetic codes for four of them showed they are part of virus families that typically infect bacteria. Up to 28 were novel, meaning they had never before been identified.
*snip*
3catwoman3
(23,812 posts)Ordinarily, I would say fascinating. Not just now. No more novel viruses, please.
Trueblue1968
(17,138 posts)I WILL drown myself before i let myself get destroyed by monsters !!!! pictures of that monster coming outta that dog still wake me up at night .....
carpenters .... THE THING.
Response to 3catwoman3 (Reply #1)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
Whiskeytide
(4,459 posts)Laffy Kat
(16,354 posts)I'm reading "Phase Six" about a pandemic that starts in a small village in Greenland after miners dig up a long-buried avian virus. It seems so plausible. The novel is a good read and frankly terrifying.
OAITW r.2.0
(23,810 posts)This ain't rocket science, but we were told 50 fucking years ago that it was a reality and the Republican Party, a fully owned operational subsidiary of Big Oil/Gas....kept denying it. But, tax cuts and deregulation....win!
Hekate
(90,189 posts)At least the scientists will get to study some of it before it liquifies by itself
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,846 posts)... and try to infect some animals now.
DemocraticPatriot
(4,170 posts)We don't need any more!
bearssoapbox
(1,408 posts)I guess humanity has had a good run.
See ya on the other side.
Calculating
(2,954 posts)To "study" them.
GPV
(72,377 posts)not be a bad idea.
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)panader0
(25,816 posts)Roland99
(53,342 posts)catrose
(5,047 posts)Please don't make me.
GPV
(72,377 posts)Nay
(12,051 posts)Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)Throck
(2,520 posts)It kept the Martians from taking over the planet, didn't it?
Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)LiberatedUSA
(1,666 posts)Not just rising oceans, killed off parts of the ecosystem and more violent and frequent storms, but also brand new, very old, deadly viruses unlocked from being frozen in eternity. I bet at least a few of them will make the worse viruses in history seems kind.
2naSalit
(86,032 posts)ecstatic
(32,566 posts)Things are already pretty nasty out here.
Klaralven
(7,510 posts)https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/viruses-can-help-us-as-well-as-harm-us/
Karma13612
(4,527 posts)I have gotten 1/2 way thru. Just marvelous, so much good information!!
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,271 posts)Edim
(300 posts)"A teaspoon of seawater typically contains about fifty million viruses.[6] Most of these viruses are bacteriophages which infect and destroy marine bacteria and control the growth of phytoplankton at the base of the marine food web. Bacteriophages are harmless to plants and animals but are essential to the regulation of marine ecosystems. They supply key mechanisms for recycling ocean carbon and nutrients. In a process known as the viral shunt, organic molecules released from dead bacterial cells stimulate fresh bacterial and algal growth. In particular, the breaking down of bacteria by viruses (lysis) has been shown to enhance nitrogen cycling and stimulate phytoplankton growth. Viral activity also affects the biological pump, the process which sequesters carbon in the deep ocean. By increasing the amount of respiration in the oceans, viruses are indirectly responsible for reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by approximately 3 gigatonnes of carbon per year."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_viruses
MineralMan
(146,189 posts)Most infect bacteria, which is not surprising, since there are bacteria everywhere in unbelievable numbers. Most bacteria, too, are not pathogenic, but are crucial to the ecosystem.
So, since these viruses were found in frozen water, I'd bet heavily that not a single one is a human pathogen.