Arctic zombie viruses in Siberia could spark terrifying new pandemic, scientists

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/21/arctic-zombie-viruses-in-siberia-could-spark-terrifying-new-pandemic-scientists-warn

by gardenfelder • 3 years ago

19 8 3 years ago

theguardian.com

gardenfelder• 3 years ago

Threat of outbreak from microbes trapped in permafrost for millennia raised by increased Siberian shipping activity

chpatrick• 3 years ago

Wouldn't these viruses be way behind the times in evolutionary terms?

az09mugen• 3 years ago

Maybe, maybe not.

plmpsu• 3 years ago

Evolution is not necessarily linear. Theoretically, it's possible for a virus to die out after which the host's defenses against that virus would be pruned by evolution due to them harming fitness (no use for them anymore while still costing energy).

hammyhavoc• 3 years ago

Very eloquent. I wish someone had explained it so well as a student.

ETH_start• 3 years ago

An Institute of Virology collecting, warehousing and doing gain of function experiments on Methuselah viruses, and one of the altered viruses creating a global pandemic, is the threat I'm most concerned about.

AvocadoPanic• 3 years ago

NIH is probably already funding it somewhere. What were they studying at the biolabs in the Ukraine?

gumboshoes• 3 years ago

In the HN headline, the comma after "pandemic" makes it seem like the Arctic zombie viruses are also sparking terrifying new scientists. "Scientists" should either have "warn" after it like the original Guardian headline does, or the comma should be a colon. Source: me, an editor, and also easily amused at 5am.

Arctic zombie viruses in Siberia could spark terrifying new pandemic, scientists

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