Dozens of unknown ancient viruses found in 15,000-year-old glacial ice
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/ne ... lacial-ice
Scientists warn that glaciers are rapidly shrinking, mainly due to human-released greenhouse gas emissions, which could release ancient viruses and bacteria into the environment.
In 2015, researchers from Ohio State University climbed to an altitude of nearly 7,000 metres and extracted two ice cores from the Guliya ice cap in western China. Their study, published in Microbiome, reveals that researchers discovered 33 viruses within the 15,000-year-old ice cores, with at least 28 being completely new to science and have never been seen before.
"Unfortunately, glaciers around the world, including those from Tibetan Plateau and Himalaya, are rapidly shrinking, primarily due to the anthropogenic-enhanced warming of Earth’s ocean-atmosphere system. Such melting will not only lead to the loss of those ancient, archived microbes and viruses but also release them to the environment in the future,” the study warns.