Researchers resurrect 8 million-year-old bacteria

bact.bmp

From the BBC:

Microbes locked in Antarctic ice for as much as eight million years have been "resuscitated" in a laboratory.

Researchers melted five samples of ice from the debris-covered glaciers of Antarctica which range in age from 100,000 years to eight million years.

When given nutrients and warmth, the microbes resumed their activity - although younger microorganisms grew more successfully than the older ones.

According to the news story, the paper is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, but I couldn't find it at the time of writing.

Update: the full text of the paper is now available.

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