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French scientists have revived a 48,500-year-old <keyword id="15655645" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="zombie-virus-buried-under-a-frozen-lake" source="Orion">zombie virus buried under a frozen lake</keyword> in Russia until now! According to New York Post, French scientists have sparked fears of yet another pandemic after reviving the "<keyword id="14706038" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="zombie-virus" source="Orion">zombie virus</keyword>". New York Post is a daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. New York Post has quoted a viral study which is yet to be peer-reviewed. "The situation would be much more disastrous in the case of plant, animal, or human diseases caused by the revival of an ancient unknown virus," reads the "viral" study. According to the preliminary report, global warming is irrevocably thawing enormous swathes of permafrost -- permanently frozen ground that covers one-quarter of the Northern Hemisphere. This has had the unsettling effect of "releasing organic materials frozen for up to a million years" - possibly deadly germs included. "Part of this organic matter also consists of revived cellular microbes (prokaryotes, unicellular eukaryotes) as well as viruses that remained dormant since prehistorical times," the researchers write. According to the New York Post, scientists have, perhaps strangely, revived some of these so-called "zombie viruses" from the Siberian permafrost in order to investigate the awakening critters. The oldest, Pandoravirus yedoma, was 48,500 years old, a record age for a frozen virus returning to a form where it may infect other creatures. This breaks the previous record of a 30,000-year-old virus identified in Siberia by the same scientists in 2013. The new strain is one of 13 viruses described in the study, each with its own genome, according to Science Alert. While the Pandoravirus was discovered at the bottom of a lake in Yukechi Alas, Yakutia, Russia, others have been discovered everywhere from mammoth fur to Siberian wolf intestines. Scientists discovered that all of the "zombie viruses" have the potential to be infectious and hence pose a "health danger" after researching the live cultures. They believe that COVID-19-style pandemics will become more common in the future as melting permafrost releases long-dormant viruses like a microbial Captain America, as per New York Post. "It is therefore legitimate to ponder the risk of ancient viral particles remaining infectious and getting back into circulation by the thawing of ancient permafrost layers," they write. Unfortunately, it's a vicious cycle as organic matter released by the thawing ice decomposes into carbon dioxide and methane, further enhancing the greenhouse effect and accelerating the melt. New York Post reports that the newly thawed virus might only be the tip of the epidemiological iceberg as there are likely more hibernating viruses yet to be discovered. More research is needed to assess the level of infectiousness of these unknown viruses when exposed to light, heat, oxygen, and other outside environmental variables. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/us-weekly-flu-hospitalisations-hit-record-high-since-2010/articleshow/95851463.cms" style="">US weekly flu hospitalisations hit record high since 2010</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/skyroot-aerospace-plans-to-launch-another-rocket-vikram-1-in-one-year/articleshow/95850320.cms" style="">Skyroot Aerospace plans to launch another rocket Vikram-1, in one year</a>

Scientists revive 48,500-year-old zombie virus buried under a frozen lake in Russia

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists revived a 48,500-year-old 'zombie' virus from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alaska-lakes-belching-damaging-methane-after-ice-melt-nasa-expert-2022-9">permafrost</a> and found it was still infectious.</li><li>The virus was tested on amoebae but could indicate more dangerous viruses are lurking in permafrost.</li></ul>From a horror movie plot to real life: Scientists have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/animal-revived-after-24000-years-in-ice-could-reproduce-2021-6">revived</a> ancient "zombie" viruses from permafrost and discovered they could still infect living single-celled amoebae. The chances of these viruses infecting animals or humans are unclear, but the researchers say permafrost viruses should be considered a public health threat. Permafrost is a layer of soil that remains completely frozen year-round — at least it used to, before human activities started <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/arctic-regions-changing-to-rainfall-instead-of-snow-2022-12">raising global temperatures</a>. It covers 15% of land in the Northern Hemisphere.Because of climate change, though, permafrost is thawing rapidly, unearthing a host of ancient relics from viruses and bacteria to wooly mammoths and an impeccably <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ancient-cave-bear-carcass-siberia-permafrost-intact-organs-nose-2020-9">preserved cave bear</a>.<div type="image" title="ice age bears siberia" height="721" width="960" msid="98526515" hostid="261" sizebytes="44730"></div>According to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/08/world/permafrost-virus-risk-climate-scn/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>, French professor Jean-Michel Claverie found strains of the 48,000-year-old frozen virus from a few permafrost sites in Siberia. The oldest strain, which dated back 48,500 years, came from a sample of soil from an underground lake, while the youngest samples were 27,000 years old. One of the young samples was discovered in the carcass of a wooly mammoth.Some scientists fear that as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/beavers-invade-alaska-arctic-tundra-photos-satellite-images-damage-2023-1">climate change warms the Arctic</a>, thawing permafrost could release ancient viruses that haven't been in contact with living things for thousands of years. As such, plants, animals, and humans might have no immunity to them."You must remember our immune defense has been developed in close contact with microbiological surroundings," Birgitta Evengård, professor emerita at Umea University's Department of Clinical Microbiology in Sweden, told CNN."If there is a virus hidden in the permafrost that we have not been in contact with for thousands of years, it might be that our immune defense is not sufficient," she added. "It is correct to have respect for the situation and be proactive and not just reactive. And the way to fight fear is to have knowledge."<h2>How 'zombie' viruses could infect hosts once they emerge</h2>This isn't the first time Claverie has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ancient-giant-viruses-waking-up-ice-2017-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">revived ancient viruses</a>, or "zombie viruses" as he calls them. He's been publishing research on this topic since 2014 and says that beyond his work, very few researchers are taking these viruses seriously."This wrongly suggests that such occurrences are rare and that 'zombie viruses' are not a public health threat," Claverie and his colleagues report in their latest paper <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/15/2/564" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> February 18 in the journal Viruses.In that study, Claverie and his team were able to revive several new strains of "zombie" viruses and found that each one could still infect cultured amoebas — a feat, Claverie said, that should be regarded as both a scientific curiosity and a concerning public health threat.<div type="image" title="gravel road abruptly ends crumbling into running water two feet below in rural setting with a few homes" height="1498" width="1997" msid="98526517" hostid="261" sizebytes="358852"></div>"We view these amoeba-infecting viruses as surrogates for all other possible viruses that might be in permafrost," he told CNN. "We see the traces of many, many, many other viruses. So we know they are there. We don't know for sure that they are still alive. But our reasoning is that if the amoeba viruses are still alive, there is no reason why the other viruses will not be still alive, and capable of infecting their own hosts."The current research on frozen viruses like Claverie's 'zombie' virus is helping scientists understand more about how these ancient viruses function and whether, or not, they could potentially infect animals or humans.<h2>Ancient bacteria like anthrax may already be thawing back to life</h2>It's not just viruses. Ancient bacteria, too, could be released and reactivated for the first time in up to two million years as permafrost thaws.That's what happened, scientists think, when <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8463397/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outbreaks</a> of the bacterial infection anthrax appeared in humans and reindeer in Siberia in 2016.That may be a "more immediate public health concern," according to Calverie's paper.

Scientists revived a 'zombie' virus frozen for 48,500 years in ice. They learned it could still infect other cells.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A roundworm thawed from 46,000-year-old permafrost recently started having babies.</li><li>Scientists have previously revived ancient bacteria and prehistoric viruses that had been trapped.</li></ul>Scientists recently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/forty-six-thousand-year-old-worm-found-siberian-permafrost-brought-back-to-life-2023-7">revived</a> a microscopic roundworm from 46,000-year-old Siberian permafrost that was so well preserved, it started having babies. But this isn't the first time "zombie" creatures in ice have been brought back from the dead. Scientists have a long record of resurrecting prehistoric viruses and ancient bacteria frozen in ice. However, as the climate crisis is melting ancient ice sheets worldwide, experts are growing concerned that prehistoric viruses could pose a risk to humanity. <h2>Prehistoric viruses in permafrost</h2><div type="image" title="Two men wearing winter gear look at an ice core in a mobile laboratory." height="1000" width="2000" msid="102284844" hostid="261" sizebytes="97170"></div>In March, French professor Jean-Michel Claverie found strains of 48,000-year-old frozen viruses in the Siberian permafrost. Permafrost is a layer of soil that's frozen all year round and covers about 15% of the planet. The virus, he found, was able to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-revived-frozen-zombie-virus-48000-years-infects-other-cells-2023-3">infect</a> single-cell organisms called amoebas.As Insider previously <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-revived-frozen-zombie-virus-48000-years-infects-other-cells-2023-3">reported</a>, the chance of it infecting animals and humans was unclear, but the researchers said at the time that permafrost viruses should be considered a public health threat.Other research has found 28 prehistoric viruses dating back <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/28-prehistoric-viruses-unknown-science-glacier-ice-guliya-2021-8">15,000 years</a> in frozen ice cores. Fifteen of these were unknown to science. The scientists said the findings could teach us about the effects of the climate crisis on viruses. "We know very little about viruses and microbes in these extreme environments," said Lonnie Thompson, an author of the study and scientist at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, at the time."How do bacteria and viruses respond to climate change? What happens when we go from an ice age to a warm period like we're in now?" he said.<h2>Nematodes — 46,000 years old and 24,000 years old</h2>Nematodes are parasites that usually live inside a host. Recent reports have found that a roundworm, a type of nematode, started making babies after an estimated 46,000 years frozen in permafrost (nematodes reproduce by parthenogenesis, meaning they don't need a partner to spread). But it's not the first time this has been seen. Previous research has found a rotifer, another type of nematode, was uncovered from Siberian permafrost after an estimated <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/animal-revived-after-24000-years-in-ice-could-reproduce-2021-6#:~:text=Russian%20scientists%20have%20been%20able,seen%20in%20the%20video%20below.">24,000 years</a> caught in the ice. It was also able to reproduce, and happily ate when fed. <div type="image" title="rotifer" height="450" width="600" msid="102284846" hostid="261" sizebytes="8500"></div><h2>A bacteria that may have been 8 million years old </h2>Bacteria have also been pulled from ancient ice in the past — and in some cases, it's thought they were able to keep thriving after millions of years underground. Scientists <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12433-eight-million-year-old-bug-is-alive-and-growing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in the 2000s</a> found a bacterium in ice taken from Antarctica. The tiny bug, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7567650/#:~:text=Few%20pockets%20of%2034%2Dmillion,known%20living%20organisms%20on%20earth." target="_blank" rel="noopener">called Arthrobacter roseus</a>, was able to split and multiply in the lab, even though it was thought to have been taken from 8-million-year-old ice. <h2>We need to know more about ancient frozen bugs</h2>It's important to take the findings listed above with a pinch of salt.It's very difficult to keep samples pristine when extracting ancient ice, and even more difficult to conclusively date the ice. So it can be challenging to be certain that the bugs are not modern microbes dropped on the ice accidentally by the scientists themselves. Still, these findings are crucial as we're seeing more of the world's ice <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/melting-glaciers-ice-sheets-sea-level-rise-climate-disaster-2022-12">disappearing</a> in the changing climate, which could uncover more of these bugs frozen in time. It's not clear how the human body could react to these bugs, because we may never have encountered them. "You must remember our immune defense has been developed in close contact with microbiological surroundings," Birgitta Evengård, emeritus microbiology professor from the Umea University, told CNN, Insider previously reported."If there is a virus hidden in the permafrost that we have not been in contact with for thousands of years, it might be that our immune defense is not sufficient," she added.It's not just ancient bugs that have scientists worried. It's possible that bugs we've eradicated or kept under control could resurface from the melting ice. For instance, scientists were puzzled when one child died and 20 more got sick from <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8264129/#:~:text=The%20Yamal%20Peninsula%20in%20the,fatality%20rate%20of%2088.67%25)." target="_blank" rel="noopener">anthrax</a> in Russia in 2016, although there hadn't been an outbreak in 70 years. They <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8463397/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">believe</a> this was caused by a bug that was lurking in permafrost and that had been released in a heat wave.

Scientists have revived 'zombie' bugs and viruses before that were trapped in ancient ice. One may have been 8 million years old.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Beachgoers found skulls and other bones in Florida after <a style="font-family: Georgia, Times, sans-serif;" href="https://www.insider.com/nicole-storm-tracker-live-updates-national-hurricane-center-florida-path-2022-11">Hurricane Nicole</a>, according to local news.</li><li>Nicole barrel led into Florida's east coast as a Category 1 hurricane on Thursday, November 10.</li></ul>Hurricane Nicole's storm surge last week eroded parts of the east Florida coastline and unearthed a Native American burial ground dating back hundreds of years, according to local news reports.The discovery is just the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-fueled-droughts-unearthing-unexpected-discoveries-2022-7">latest skeletal remains</a> discovered after human-caused climate change strengthens storms, depletes bodies of water, and melts ice.November hurricanes like Nicole are rare: It is only the fourth hurricane to make landfall during the month since record keeping began in 1853, according to <a href="https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/All_U.S._Hurricanes.html">NOAA.</a> Nicole's formation so late in the year underscores how climate change helps fuel longer hurricane seasons and more powerful storms. Last week, officials in Martin County — which is 140 miles southeast of Orlando — told <a href="https://www.wptv.com/weather/tropical-weather/hurricane-nicole-unearths-possible-burial-ground-on-martin-county-beach-sheriff-says#:~:text=Martin%20County%20Sheriff%20William%20Snyder,preserving%20the%20bones%2C%20Snyder%20said.">local news station WPTV</a> that beachgoers stumbled onto six skulls and other bones on a nearby beach. Medical examiners believe the bones are 200 years old (or possibly more), local officials told <a href="https://www.wptv.com/weather/tropical-weather/hurricane-nicole-unearths-possible-burial-ground-on-martin-county-beach-sheriff-says#:~:text=Martin%20County%20Sheriff%20William%20Snyder,preserving%20the%20bones%2C%20Snyder%20said.">WPTV</a>. The Martin County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.Investigators believe the bones belonged to the Seminole tribe and came from a Native American burial ground located nearby. "They are ancestors of the Seminole people," Tina Osceola, a member of the Seminole tribe in Florida, told <a href="https://www.wptv.com/weather/tropical-weather/hurricane-nicole-unearths-possible-burial-ground-on-martin-county-beach-sheriff-says#:~:text=Martin%20County%20Sheriff%20William%20Snyder,preserving%20the%20bones%2C%20Snyder%20said.">WPTV</a>. "That we do know."<div type="image" title="Homes partially toppled onto the Daytona Beach after Hurricane Nicole came ashore on November 10, 2022." height="2000" width="3000" msid="95540589" hostid="261" sizebytes="1482710"></div><h1>Bones won't stay buried in eroding beaches</h1>This is not the first time that hurricanes have unearthed Indigenous remains. In September 2019, a weakened Hurricane Dorian caused beach erosion that unearthed ancient Native American bones in the same stretch of the eastern Florida coast, according to <a href="https://www.wptv.com/news/local-news/martin-county/possible-indian-remains-found-on-hutchinson-island-following-hurricane-dorian">WPTV.</a>In some cultures, including Indigenous tribes that lived in what is now known as Florida, ancestral remains are traditionally buried along the shore — and they're under threat from rising sea levels and beach erosion. A <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/3/2022/03/08_SROCC_Ch06_FINAL.pdf">growing body of research</a> suggests storms are intensifying due to warming waters fueled by climate change, causing more and more sand to erode from beaches. "Encroaching seas are eroding those burials out and human remains are going to continue to be exposed," Jennifer Byrnes, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Nevada, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/forensic-anthropologists-on-the-front-lines-as-climate-change-worsens-2022-5">previously told Insider.</a> <div type="image" title="A rusted metal barrel, near the location of where a different barrel was found containing a human body, sits exposed on shore during low water levels due to the western drought at Lake Mead on May 5, 2022." height="3660" width="5490" msid="95540591" hostid="261" sizebytes="1820340"></div><h1>A warming world exposes long-submerged remains</h1>In Nevada's Lake Mead, a key reservoir that helps supply water to about 25 million,<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/more-human-remains-found-lake-mead-drought-water-levels-2022-7"> multiple sets of human remains</a> resurfaced this summer as water levels receded to historic lows during a drought. Byrnes, who reviews deaths in Lake Mead, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/drought-hit-mississippi-river-reveals-a-shipwreck-and-human-remains-2022-10">previously told Insider</a> that shrinking bodies of water could be a boon for experts tasked with solving missing-persons cases. "A big body of water disappearing is going to help us, from a forensic perspective," she said. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-effects-adapt-or-die-un-ipcc-report-2022-3">Research</a> suggests that human-caused climate change warms the planet, causing changes in precipitation and enhancing evaporation that intensifies droughts.<div type="image" title="Switzerland’s melting glaciers revealed the remains of a 1968 plane." height="3024" width="4032" msid="95540593" hostid="261" sizebytes="1074784"></div>Beyond droughts, warmer average global temperatures are thawing and receding glaciers around the world, unveiling previously frozen remains. Over the last decade, the <a href="https://www.dpaa.mil/">Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command</a> — a Defense Department task force that works to recover unaccounted-for American military personnel — has <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/military-identifies-17-killed-in-1952-alaska-crash/">recovered the remains of 52 service members</a> who died when their military transport plane crashed into an Alaska mountain in 1952."As the glacier melts and the glacier moves, more material comes up to the surface," Gregory Berg, the forensic anthropologist who led the team, told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-glacier-plane/as-glacier-melts-secrets-of-lost-military-plane-revealed-idUKBRE9690EK20130710">reporters in 2013</a>.More recently, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/melting-glaciers-reveal-human-remains-plane-wreck-swiss-alps-2022-8">melting glaciers in the Swiss Alps </a>revealed two sets of human remains and the wreckage of a 1968 plane crash that had been frozen beneath snow and ice this summer.

Hurricane Nicole unearthed 6 human skulls from a Florida beach, and it's the latest case of long-buried remains found after worsening weather

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><a href="?">Marcy Beitch, WISSARD?</a>WISSARD team traversing <keyword id="6354781" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Antarctica">Antarctica</keyword>.</div>On Monday, U.S. scientists drilling into <a href="http://www.wissard.org/">Antarctic Lake Whillans announced </a>that they have tapped into the liquid water of the lake and taken up their first samples.
And now, Discover Magazine writer <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2013/01/29/first-evidence-of-life-in-antarctic-subglacial-lake/#.UQfzyeikCiZ">Douglas Fox announced on The Crux</a> that these samples contain signs of living <keyword id="6376020" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bacteria">bacteria</keyword>, the first seen from a subglacial lake.
The team, Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) has been drilling into Lake Whillans, which is buried 2,600 feet below the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Liquid water samples were first removed from the lake Monday, Jan. 28, at 6:20 a.m, Fox reports.
They squirted the lake water into dishes of nutrients and food, hoping something would grow, a test that will take weeks. 
They also performed a much quicker test — they dyed the water, labeling any genetic material (DNA) that was inside with a marker that glows green. And green it did glow. They could see individual cells in the water glowing green with the dye, Fox reports. More intensive testing will follow to determine if these cells are alive, and if they are new types of microbes.
<div class="image-container float_left" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div>Marci Beitch, WISSARDHeaded out to Lake Whillans</div>Multiple other teams, including one from Russia and one from Britain, are trying to tap into subglacial lakes that are even deeper down under the ice sheet. 
The British team is investigating Lake Ellsworth, and retrieved their first <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/life-in-a-frozen-lake-in-antarctica-2012-12">water samples in early December</a>. But they had to abandon their drilling on Dec. 27, as the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/antarctic-lake-research-abandoned-2012-12">drilling was not going according to plan</a>, an expedition scientist told The Guardian.
The Russian team is drilling into Lake Vostok. On Jan. 14 they retrieved their <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/lake-vostok-water-ice-obtained-2013-1">first liquid water samples</a>. Preliminary testing of some frozen water they brought back on a drill bit <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/no-life-buried-antarctic-lake-vostok-2012-10">didn't show signs of life</a>. Other reports indicate that the Vostok team found bacteria, but it matched bacteria found in kerosene and was probably contamination from the drilling, Fox says.
Another team from an expedition to a much younger, and easier to reach, Antarctic lake, Lake Vida, found evidence indicating that it is inhabited by special bacteria that has been isolated for more than 2,800 years, according to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microbes-found-in-antarctic-lake-vida-2012-11">a study published in November</a>.

Buried Antarctic Lake Shows First Signs Of Life

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/7163118611">Flickr / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a>There seems to be an ever-growing list of ominous consequences of melting ice- especially when it's the kind scientists expected would remain frozen forever. "Until recently, permafrost was not a major concern of climate scientists, because, as the name suggests, it was soil that stayed permanently frozen," New York Magazine's David Wallace-Wells <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html">wrote in a recent piece about climate change</a>.Permafrost is a combination of ice, soil, plants, and other materials that stays frozen all year round, even as layers on the very top thaw out seasonally. The <a href="https://www2.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/permafrost-its-chill/">United States Geological Survey compared it to</a> a "sponge" that soaks up carbon and nutrients.But by the middle of this century, <a href="https://www.wunderground.com/resources/climate/melting_permafrost.asp">scientists project that the area of permafrost</a> in the Northern Hemisphere will decrease between 20-35%.The most obvious challenge of melting permafrost is flooding, which poses a threat to sea levels as well as facilities in the Arctic circle like<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/svalbard-doomsday-seed-vault-melting-permafrost-climate-change-flood-2017-5/"> the "doomsday" vault</a>, which stores seeds for every known crop on the planet. Melted ice water recently flooded the vault, but ultimately the water was kept away from the seeds. But melting permafrost can also lead to unanticipated effects that humans haven't had to worry about for thousands of years. "Arctic permafrost contains 1.8 trillion tons of carbon, more than twice as much as is currently suspended in the Earth's atmosphere," Wallace-Wells wrote.As the permafrost in the Arctic melts, it could release that carbon dioxide, along with methane, an even more potent gas that traps in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2015/oct/13/methane-release-from-melting-permafrost-could-trigger-dangerous-global-warming">30 times as much heat</a> as carbon dioxide. Such a release could influence the global climate, <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/9/8/085003/pdf;jsessionid=FDE1EBC6FE57DF3A3740AD48B110B710.c1">researchers concluded in 2014</a>. Even more daunting, scientists working in the Arctic circle in recent decades have unearthed several massive viruses that <a href="http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170504-there-are-diseases-hidden-in-ice-and-they-are-waking-up">some say could be re-awakened</a> if the permafrost that imprisons them dissolves.<a href="http://siberiantimes.com/science/others/news/n0395-warning-on-deadly-ancient-viruses-awakening-in-siberia-as-climate-change-melts-the-permafrost/">Some</a> researchers have <a href="http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170504-there-are-diseases-hidden-in-ice-and-they-are-waking-up">suggested</a> that these enormous viruses could thaw out, escape, and make lots of people sick. There's even a possibility that some infections that were a problem in Siberia around the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/gha.v4i0.8482">18th and 19th centuries</a> could make a comeback as well.It sounds like something out of a horror film, but you shouldn't get too concerned - at least not yet.<h2>What thawed-out viruses could mean for humans</h2>In 2015, researchers in Siberia uncovered the Mollivirus sibericum, a 30,000-year-old behemoth of a virus that <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/38/E5327.full">succeeded in infecting</a> a rather defenseless amoeba in a lab experiment. About a decade earlier, scientists <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/exotic-giant-virus-thawed-from-russian-tundra-2014-3">discovered the first Mimivirus</a>, a 1,200-gene specimen measuring twice the width of traditional viruses, buried beneath layers of melting frost in the Russian tundra. (For comparison, HIV has just <a href="https://www.hiv.lanl.gov/content/sequence/HIV/MAP/landmark.html">nine genes</a>.)The likelihood that these viruses will break free and sicken humans is slim, according to <a href="http://siberiantimes.com/science/others/news/n0395-warning-on-deadly-ancient-viruses-awakening-in-siberia-as-climate-change-melts-the-permafrost/"></a>New York Times <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/columns/matter/index.html">science columnist</a> Carl Zimmer, whose recent book, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/022629420X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=211189&amp;creative=373489&amp;creativeASIN=022629420X&amp;link_code=as3&amp;tag=bivideo-20&amp;linkId=FBWNQCKUKBVKQNKT">A Planet of Viruses</a>," digs into what we know about viruses and the diseases they cause."These particular viruses infect amoeba. So if you're an amoeba, yeah you should be really scared," Zimmer <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/carl-zimmer-on-ancient-siberian-viruses-2015-10">told Business Insider</a> in a 2015 interview. "There are no human pathogens that have burst out of the Siberian permafrost. That's not to say that viruses won't emerge, but there are so many viruses circulating in living animals, I think we should put these frozen viruses very low on our list of concerns."Zimmer added in a recent email that most of these massive viruses have been found after samples of Arctic ice were melted in a lab - they're not currently crawling along the the Russian tundra like some microscopic Frankenstein.They "didn't just thaw themselves out," he says. "They were carefully processed in labs. That's yet another clue that the odds of an ancient outbreak are very low."But that doesn't mean the recent discoveries are useless. They're currently teaching us about the nature of viruses, which we previously assumed to be fairly small and simple. These ancient viruses, on the other hand, are about 30 times bigger than our average virus, and rival the size of a bacterium.Mollivirus sibericum, for example, looks like this under a microscope:<a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/09/02/1510795112.full.pdf?with-ds=yes">PNAS</a>In addition to its unusual size, Mollivirus sibericum differs from the majority of viruses in that it has more than 500 genes that give instructions for making proteins. If we're ever going to reevaluate the characteristics of viruses, these ancient thawed-out ones could help us take a fresh look."They're in and of themselves fascinating and they really challenge us to think about what viruses are," Zimmer said.Between the threats of thawed-out viruses and greenhouse gases from melting permafrost, climate scientists have a lot to consider when confronting the consequences of rising global temperatures. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-crispr-dna-editing-tool-works-2015-10">Watch science writer Carl Zimmer explain CRISPR in 90 seconds</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

A frozen chunk of land that scientists thought would never thaw is melting - and the effects could be catastrophic

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/7163118611">Flickr / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a>Revitalized ancient viruses might one day get added to the list of ominous consequences of melting ice.Scientists working in the Arctic circle over the past few decades have unearthed several massive viruses that <a href="http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170504-there-are-diseases-hidden-in-ice-and-they-are-waking-up">some say could be re-awakened</a> if the permafrost that imprisons them dissolves.In 2015, researchers in Siberia uncovered one called Mollivirus sibericum, a 30,000-year-old behemoth of a virus that <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/38/E5327.full">succeeded in infecting</a> a rather defenseless amoeba in a lab experiment. About a decade earlier, scientists <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/exotic-giant-virus-thawed-from-russian-tundra-2014-3">discovered the first Mimivirus</a>, a 1,200-gene specimen measuring twice the width of traditional viruses, buried beneath layers of melting frost in the Russian tundra. (For comparison, HIV has just <a href="https://www.hiv.lanl.gov/content/sequence/HIV/MAP/landmark.html">nine genes</a>.)Recently, <a href="http://siberiantimes.com/science/others/news/n0395-warning-on-deadly-ancient-viruses-awakening-in-siberia-as-climate-change-melts-the-permafrost/">some</a> researchers have <a href="http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170504-there-are-diseases-hidden-in-ice-and-they-are-waking-up">suggested</a> that these enormous viruses could thaw out, escape, and make lots of people sick. It sounds like something out of a 1990s horror film. But you shouldn't get too concerned - at least not yet.The likelihood that these viruses will break free and sicken humans is slim, according to <a href="http://siberiantimes.com/science/others/news/n0395-warning-on-deadly-ancient-viruses-awakening-in-siberia-as-climate-change-melts-the-permafrost/"></a>New York Times <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/columns/matter/index.html">science columnist</a> Carl Zimmer, whose recent book, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/022629420X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=211189&amp;creative=373489&amp;creativeASIN=022629420X&amp;link_code=as3&amp;tag=bivideo-20&amp;linkId=FBWNQCKUKBVKQNKT">A Planet of Viruses</a>," digs into what we know about viruses and the diseases they cause."These particular viruses infect amoeba. So if you're an amoeba, yeah you should be really scared," Zimmer <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/carl-zimmer-on-ancient-siberian-viruses-2015-10">told Business Insider</a> in a 2015 interview. "There are no human pathogens that have burst out of the Siberian permafrost. That's not to say that viruses won't emerge, but there are so many viruses circulating in living animals, I think we should put these frozen viruses very low on our list of concerns."Zimmer added in an email on May 8 that most of these massive viruses have been found after melting samples of Arctic ice in a lab - they're not currently crawling along the the Russian tundra like some microscopic Frankenstein.They "didn't just thaw themselves out," he says. "They were carefully processed in labs. That's yet another clue that the odds of an ancient outbreak are very low."But that doesn't mean the recent discoveries are useless. Instead, they're teaching us valuable things about the nature of viruses, which we previously assumed to be fairly small and simple. These ancient viruses, on the other hand, are about 30 times bigger than your average virus, and rival the size of a bacterium.Mollivirus sibericum, for example, looks like this under a microscope:<a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/09/02/1510795112.full.pdf?with-ds=yes">PNAS</a>In addition to its unusual size, Mollivirus sibericum differs from the vast majority of viruses in that has more than 500 genes that give instructions for making proteins."They're in and of themselves fascinating and they really challenge us to think about what viruses are," Zimmer says.Viruses are <a href="http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=3316">technically not considered alive</a>, but these giant ones seem to have some qualities of life, like a functioning metabolism. If we're ever going to reevaluate the characteristics of viruses, these ancient thawed-out ones could make us take a fresh look. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-crispr-dna-editing-tool-works-2015-10">Watch science writer Carl Zimmer explain CRISPR in 90 seconds</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Ancient, giant viruses are being unearthed in Arctic ice that's at risk of melting

This guy created a Twitter bot that won him over a thousand 'retweet to win' prizes

More boys than girls with cancer in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> are being diagnosed with the disease and the probable cause for this is gender bias in society, according to a study published in The Lancet Oncology. The researchers collected individual data of children aged 0-19 years with cancer extracted from the hospital-based records of three cancer centres in India between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2019. They also used data from two population-based cancer registries: PBCRs in <keyword id="66" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="delhi" source="Orion">Delhi</keyword> between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2014 and Madras Metropolitan Tumour Registry between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2017. The researchers from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and Cancer Institute (WIA) Chennai calculated the male to female sex ratio from the three hospitals in the context of the ratio in the corresponding PBCRs. This ratio allowed them to see how many boys with cancer were seeking treatment for each girl seeking treatment. The team separately analysed the male to female ratios of patients undergoing stem cell transplant which is a comparatively expensive procedure used in cancer care. "We observed that among nearly 11,000 patients registered in the PBCRs, there was significant skew in favour of boys for getting diagnosed with cancer. Similarly, among the 22,000 children with cancer enrolled in the three hospitals, we saw that more boys were seeking treatment than girls," said Professor <keyword id="15658843" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sameer-bakhshi" source="Orion">Sameer Bakhshi</keyword>, from Department of Medical Oncology, <keyword id="40458" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="aiims" source="Orion">AIIMS</keyword> New Delhi. "However, when we looked at sex ratios among patients seeking cancer care in the context of sex ratios at diagnosis, the skew in sex ratios was no longer apparent. This tells us that the bias towards boys originates at the community level. Once children are brought forward and diagnosed, there is no further gender bias in seeking treatment," Bakhsh, the corresponding author of the study, told PTI. The researchers noted that lesser girls were seeking treatment in hospitals in centres in Northern India as compared to Southern India. The disparity between the genders was more for patients coming from rural as compared to urban areas. This may have to do variations in social fabric in different parts of the country, they said. The study also found that lesser number of girls were coming to the hospital if the distance of the centre from their home was over 100 kilometers, signifying that if costs related to treatment increase, the bias would likely increase. The researchers observed that the male to female ratios in Delhi have been improving over the last 15 years. "The study clearly shows that more boys with cancer are being diagnosed than girls and the probable cause for this is gender bias in society," <keyword id="321831" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="bakhshi" source="Orion">Bakhshi</keyword> said. "Symptomatic girls might not be brought forward for evaluation and diagnosis, leading to fewer cancer diagnoses in girls. The nature of societal mind set affects this bias since we see that societies that are more patriarchal (like that in North of India) show a greater bias," he explained. Sex ratios are also affected by the cost of treatment. The researchers saw that less girls seek cancer care in situations where out-of-pocket expenditures are higher such as when obtaining care from private hospitals or residing far from the treatment Centre. This implies that the gender bias observed is an interplay of multiple social and economic factors. The researchers noted that the first step in solving any problem is to first recognise it, which this study does. To overcome the bias, joint efforts are needed towards bringing about a change in the mindset of the population as well as decreasing the cost of treatment borne by patients, especially for girl children. "We will have to use education as a tool to do away with the patriarchal mind set of society. From our data, we believe that if free treatment is provided for cancer to girl children, it will help in reducing the sex disparity in seeking care for cancer," Bakhshi added. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/scientists-revive-48500-year-old-zombie-virus-buried-under-a-frozen-lake-in-russia/articleshow/95872037.cms">Scientists revive 48,500-year-old zombie virus buried under a frozen lake in Russia</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/government-lifts-ban-on-organic-non-basmati-rice-exports/articleshow/95872255.cms">Government lifts ban on organic non-basmati rice exports</a>

More boys with cancer being diagnosed than girls in India: Lancet study

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Shelly Carpenter/University of WashingtonScientist Zachary Cooper climbs down a ladder into a tunnel leading to a cryopeg, a pocket of super-cool water suspended in the Alaskan permafrost, May 2018. Researchers are harnessed to a rope for safety.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>In pockets of briny water 20 feet under the Arctic tundra, scientists have found <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiny-animal-bodies-found-under-3500-feet-of-antarctic-ice-2019-1">thriving microbial communities</a>.</li><li>Some of these liquid pockets, called cryopegs, have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-scientists-drilled-hole-to-lost-lake-below-antarctica-2019-1">remained untouched</a> for 50,000 years.</li><li>By studying the microbes that survive in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/antarctica-british-team-drills-record-hole-2-kilometers-deep-2019-1">these extreme environments</a>, researchers can glean insight into what types of life to look for on planets like Mars or on Saturn's moon <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-dragonfly-space-drone-titan-saturn-moon-mission-2019-6">Titan</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Almost one-quarter of the Earth's northern hemisphere remains frozen year-round. This permanently chilled ground, aptly named permafrost, consists of soil, rocks and sand held together by ice. Sometimes, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/effects-of-melting-permafrost-ancient-viruses-carbon-2017-7">permafrost traps pockets of bacteria and viruses</a> hundreds of thousands of years old.These unchanging conditions and sub-zero temperatures make patches of permafrost suitable analogs for the icy conditions on other planets and their moons. So scientists are studying the microbes that survive and thrive there to glean insight into the kind of extraterrestrial life we might discover elsewhere in the solar system. Recently, researchers from the University of Washington took a new approach to this effort, probing subsurface pockets where sediment mixes with salty water. These pockets under the Arctic tundra are called cryopegs, and some have remained untouched for 50,000 years.As it turns out, some are also home to thriving groups of microscopic bacteria."We study really old seawater trapped inside of permafrost for up to 50,000 years, to see how those bacterial communities have evolved over time," Zachary Cooper, an oceanographer who recently presented some of this research, <a href="http://www.washington.edu/news/2019/07/11/super-salty-subzero-arctic-water-provides-peek-at-possible-life-on-other-planets/">said in a press release</a>.The team's hope is that the tiny lifeforms they found could offer clues about what types of creatures we should hunt for on Mars or other planets.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permafrost#/media/File:Permafrost_pattern.jpg">Brocken Inaglory/Wikimedia Commons</a>A view of Siberian permafrost from the air.</div></div></div>Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiny-animal-bodies-found-under-3500-feet-of-antarctic-ice-2019-1">In a lost lake 3,500 feet under the Antarctic ice, scientists just found the carcasses of tiny creatures</a><h2>Isolated for 50,000 years</h2>In cryopegs, the water is so salty that the liquid remains unfrozen even at below-freezing temperatures.To reach one of these underground pockets, Cooper and his colleagues drilled more than 20 feet into the permafrost near Utqiaġvik, Alaska.They <a href="https://agu.confex.com/agu/abscicon19/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/480591">presented a DNA analysis</a> of the bacteria that they discovered there at an <a href="https://connect.agu.org/abscicon/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener">astrobiology conference</a> last month. To the researchers' surprise, their analysis revealed that the isolated bacteria are thriving.That shouldn't be the case."The extreme conditions here are not just the below-zero temperatures, but also the very high salt concentrations," Jody Deming, another study author, said in the press release. "140 parts per thousand - 14% - is a lot of salt. In canned goods, that would stop microbes from doing anything."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Zac Cooper/University of WashingtonA University of Washington research site sits a mile outside of Utqiagvik, Alaska.</div></div></div>The primary microbe they found in the salty water was marinobacter, a common type of marine bacteria. "Even though it has been in the dark, buried in frozen permafrost for a very long time, it originally came from the marine environment," Deming said.This shows that marinobacter are able to survive even when transplanted into a hyper-salty sediment pocket below the icy tundra."We were quite startled at how dense the bacterial communities are," Cooper said. "We're just discovering that there's a very robust microbial community, co-evolving with viruses, in these ancient buried brines."<h2>Drilling into a subterranean tunnel</h2>Researchers aren't sure how cryopegs form under layers of ice. They could be former coastal lagoons that got trapped during the last ice age as the ocean receded.To access this particular cryopeg, located about 20 to 25 feet below the surface, the researchers had to climb down a 12-foot ladder into the icy tundra, then crawl through a tunnel bored within the permafrost. The tunnel was only wide enough for a single person and not high enough to stand in.Researchers then drilled into the tunnel floor to reach the cryopeg's saline liquid.Once they were finally able to analyze the samples they removed, the water turned out to be replete with tiny lifeforms. <h2>Studying extreme environments could help scientists better understand Mars and Titan</h2>These pockets of ancient saltwater could be very similar to the environments under the oceans and ice of other planets, the researchers wrote.Mars may have once harbored a liquid ocean, and other moons in our solar system also have liquid water. Other ocean worlds include Saturn's icy moons Titan and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-outer-space-mission-saturn-moon-enceladus-science-2016-8">Enceladus</a>, and Jupiter's moons <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earth-water-ice-volume-versus-planets-moons-2016-11">Europa</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/water-on-ganymede-2015-3">Ganymede</a>.Studying how Earthly bacteria thrives in semi-frozen liquid environments could inform future space-exploration missions about what kind of life to look for and how to detect it. The researchers behind the recent work think that the types of adaptations that allowed marinobacter to survive in hyper-salty, sub-zero water could also arise in bacteria on other planets. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/16106/specular-spectacular/">NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. Arizona/Univ. Idaho</a>This near-infrared color mosaic from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows the sun glinting off of Titan's north polar seas.</div></div></div>Titan, specifically, is a prime candidate in the ongoing search for signs of extraterrestrial life. It's Saturn's largest moon and the second-largest moon in the solar system. Scientists refer to Titan as a "proto-Earth" because of its size, composition, and the bodies of liquid water on its surface. A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earth-water-ice-volume-versus-planets-moons-2016-11">colossal ocean of liquid water</a> also likely exists below Titan's roughly 60-mile-thick crust of ice.Recently, NASA announced that its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-new-frontiers-mission-selection-2017-12">next $1 billion mission</a> to space will send <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-powered-spacecraft-nasa-history-2017-3">a nuclear-powered helicopter</a> to explore Titan. The drone-like rotorcraft, nicknamed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-dragonfly-space-drone-titan-saturn-moon-mission-2019-6">"Dragonfly,"</a> is set to launch in 2026. Once it arrives at the distant moon, it will scan Titan's surface seeking signs of past - or present - microbial alien life. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-this-giant-glacier-2016-5">Alaska is home to a cave inside of a giant glacier</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Deep below Alaskan ice, tiny life forms went untouched for 50,000 years. Scientists are probing them to improve the hunt for aliens.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Dugway Proving Ground tests and stores some of the deadliest chemical and biological agents on earth. </li><li>The facility, which opened in 1942, covers about 800,000 acres - larger than the state of Rhode Island. </li><li>Past experiments include weaponized mosquitoes and fleas, as well as tests with deadly diseases such as anthrax.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>Following is a transcript of the video.Narrator: In 1968, about 6,000 sheep died near this government facility. They were poisoned by a chemical weapon named VX.The US hasn't been known to actively use VX in combat. In fact, it's begun destroying its stockpile of chemical munitions as part of a UN treaty. But it's just one of many strange and secretive experiments that happened within these walls. Experiments on sheep, mosquitoes, and even civilians.About 85 miles southwest of Salt Lake City is the US government's top-secret bioweapons lab. It's called the Dugway Proving Ground. The 77-year-old facility covers about 800,000 acres. That's just a little larger than the entire state of Rhode Island. And it tests some of the deadliest chemical, biological, radiological, and explosive hazards on Earth.Less famous than Area 51, Dugway dates all the way back to 1942. Right in the middle of World War II.Clip: The decisive battle of war has begun.Narrator: The government needed a large area to test powerful weapons, eventually settling on this stretch of land in the Utah desert. Back then, the site was used to test everything from chemical sprays and flamethrowers to various antidotes and protective equipment, and even fire-bombing.After World War II, Dugway mostly shut down. Until the Korean War began in 1950. That's when the proving ground turned into what it is today: a permanent military base. In Dugway's first few decades, the base worked mostly on offensive weaponry: biological and chemical munitions designed to directly attack enemies.Clip: Sampling devices, positioned throughout the test area, yield valuable information to chemical core researchers.Narrator: The 1950s, for example, saw the launch of Operation Big Itch, an experiment that was testing weaponized fleas. The fleas weren't infected with any type of disease or agent, but experimenters were working with thousands of them. And the fleas were dropped in cluster bombs, to gauge if they would survive the fall from an airplane. And this was only part one. Dugway launched a second experiment, called Project Bellwether, in the 1960s. Only this time, mosquitoes were injected with inert diseases, inert bacteria, and inert viruses. But get this: Those mosquitoes were released upon several groups of human volunteers, who were bitten again and again during the trials.And there are records dating back to the late 1950s, which describe experiments that used infected mosquitoes. And those are just two experiments known to the public. Exactly what goes on at Dugway is, well, pretty unclear. And that's not by accident.The area is intensely guarded. Everything that comes in and out is carefully monitored, guards are on constant patrol and actively armed, and the perimeter is lined with tall, barbed-wire fencing. There are even signs that authorize "deadly force" when necessary.Since the 1940s, officials say operations have shifted from offensive to defensive tactics. Case in point, most of the current known work prepares agents to defend against potential biological and chemical attacks. For example, a multitude of training programs are held on-site for the armed forces.Here's one in which Army Reserve soldiers are tasked with checking the radiation levels of artillery rounds. And here's another where soldiers were tasked with identifying substances in a simulated chemical lab.Dugway's main operations include the "BRAUCH" training facility, constructed from various shipping containers. It simulates underground environments for military training. There are also various buildings and rooms that serve specific purposes. Like the decontamination testing chamber, the wind-tunnel testing room, and the material test facility.But perhaps the most interesting room of all is this: the Smartman Laboratory facility, which houses the Smartman dummy, a model that's used to simulate human contact with chemical agents, including the infamous VX nerve agent. Specifically, the Smartman helps the lab develop more effective individual protection respiratory equipment,- essentially, gas masks and the like.A variety of chemists, chemical analysts, and technicians work on-site. And the use of airtight chambers and gas masks is not only common, but mandatory. Despite all of this dangerous experimentation, the work done at Dugway hasn't always been properly contained.Remember that sheep incident? That marked the start of a worrisome track record. It happened when overhead planes spewed out the nerve agent into the wind, accidentally sending it into nearby farmland in Skull Valley. Within the next couple of days, farmers found thousands of sheep dead in their fields. The Army compensated the farmers and lent them bulldozers to bury the sheep. But the accident sparked a whole debate on the use of chemical weapons in warfare.Adding on to these questionable practices, a 1994 Senate hearing on veterans' health focused specifically on Dugway veterans and civilians. A report found that people at Dugway were exposed to biological and chemical simulants believed to be safe at the time, but that the Army had later stopped using many of them because "they realized they were not as safe as previously believed."One veteran, who was accidentally sprayed in the face with the chemical DMMP in 1984, found himself wheezing and coughing the next day - symptoms that ended up lasting several weeks. Despite this, he was given only cough medicine and antibiotics by the Dugway Army Hospital. The Dugway Safety Office assured him that the chemical was safe. But by 1988, officials at Dugway had reevaluated the simulant's danger and were concerned it could cause cancer and kidney damage.In 2011, the facility slipped up again: It went on lockdown after workers lost a vial containing the VX nerve agent. Nobody was permitted to enter or exit the facility, not even the employees.And in 2016, the CDC and the Department of <keyword id="6354810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="defense">Defense</keyword> launched a major investigation when a review team found that Dugway had been operating dangerously for several years without the government's knowledge. USA Today reported "egregious failures" by the facility's leadership and staff. The reports singled out the head colonel in command at Dugway, Brig. Gen. William King.The Army's accountability investigation recognized King as unqualified, lacking the education and training to effectively oversee biosafety procedures crucial to Dugway's operation. The report admonished him, saying he "repeatedly deflected blame" and "minimized the severity of incidents." It even says King "fails to recognize" how serious the incidents truly were. And how serious were the incidents, exactly? Well, under King's command, the facility mistakenly shipped live anthrax to other labs. And not just once, but multiple times. For over a decade.That same report revealed that workers had been regularly and deliberately manipulating data in important records. Records meant to verify that pathogens being transported elsewhere were killed and safe for researchers to handle without protective gear. Still, the facility's shady past, secretive operations, and intense surveillance have captured the attention, and skepticism, of some closer observers, including several conspiracy-theorist groups.There are suggestions that the facility is the "new Area 51." And the local community has raised their own questions about the facility's operations. Dugway was even featured in an episode of The History Channel's "UFO Hunters," in which local residents and UFO watchers were interviewed and footage from the area was examined. It's hard not to wonder, when you live in close proximity to such a restricted landscape.Despite these theories, Dugway has expressed a desire to be "more transparent." And representatives have said the facility wants to be "more a part of the local community" by better informing citizens about what exactly goes on there. So far, they've delivered some on that. The facility has its own events page, which lists several events open to the general public and the local Utah community. This year, they're hosting a trail race on the facility grounds.Certainly, today's Dugway is a far cry from the 1940s Dugway, which was entirely closed off to the public. But despite the shift in the level of secrecy, much of Dugway's testing remains classified, preserving the skepticism and mysteriousness surrounding the facility.

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Scientists revive 48,500-year-old zombie virus buried under a frozen lake in Russia

ANI

Scientists revived a 'zombie' virus frozen for 48,500 years in ice. They learned it could still infect other cells.

Chris Panella,Morgan McFall-J…

Scientists have revived 'zombie' bugs and viruses before that were trapped in ancient ice. One may have been 8 million years old.

Marianne Guenot

Hurricane Nicole unearthed 6 human skulls from a Florida beach, and it's the latest case of long-buried remains found after worsening weather

Paola Rosa-Aquino

Buried Antarctic Lake Shows First Signs Of Life

Jennifer Welsh

A frozen chunk of land that scientists thought would never thaw is melting - and the effects could be catastrophic

Lydia Ramsey,Erin Brodwin

Ancient, giant viruses are being unearthed in Arctic ice that's at risk of melting

Erin Brodwin,Lydia Ramsey

This guy created a Twitter bot that won him over a thousand 'retweet to win' prizes

Nathan McAlone

More boys with cancer being diagnosed than girls in India: Lancet study

PTI

Deep below Alaskan ice, tiny life forms went untouched for 50,000 years. Scientists are probing them to improve the hunt for aliens.

Aylin Woodward

Inside the US government's top-secret bioweapons lab

Jade Tungul

DISPATCH FROM HONDURAS: What Life Is Like In The Murder Capital Of The World

Jeremy Relph

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