00:00tiny microbes basically ancient germs have been frozen in arctic ice for tens of thousands of
00:07years just chilling there since woolly mammoths were still walking around and now scientists
00:13think these little guys might wake up again if arctic summers keep getting longer and warmer
00:18yep you heard right zombie microbes great these microbes have been stuck in permafrost which is
00:26soil and ice that stays frozen solid year-round the top layer melts a bit in the summer but the
00:33really old stuff those ice age microbes are buried way deeper they only thaw if things get really warm
00:40for months not just a hot day or two to study these microbes the team went down to the permafrost
00:46research tunnel near fairbanks in alaska a long underground hallway 50 feet below the surface
00:52carved right into the ancient frozen ground the tunnel stretches over 350 feet and let
00:59scientists literally walk through thousands of years of frozen history by the way while checking
01:05out the walls the researchers also spotted bones of mammoths and bison sticking out of the ice
01:12one of the reasons why the researchers went to alaska was to see how fast these ancient microbes
01:17could come back to life well they were in for a surprise these microbes don't need years centuries
01:24or magic spells to wake up just a couple of months of warm weather once they're awake they start doing
01:31their microbe stuff which includes pumping out greenhouse gases like co2 and methane and that's bad
01:38news because those gases warm the planet even more this melts more permafrost which wakes up more
01:45microbes which releases more gas you get it basically it's a nasty climate loop anyway when scientists
01:54went down into the frozen tunnel to grab chunks of super old permafrost the first thing they noticed
02:00was the awful smell it wasn't just a stench of an old basement it was something has been frozen for
02:06thousands of years and is finally waking up bad weirdly microbiologists were happy such a smell is
02:14actually a good sign for them because it usually means tiny creatures microbes are still around
02:21back in the lab the team soaked the frozen samples in the water that had a special kind of heavy
02:26hydrogen inside it this helped them track what the microbes were doing later then they put the
02:31samples into fridges at three different temperatures cold kinda cold and not too cold to copy what future
02:39arctic summers might feel like if the warming continues for the first month almost nothing
02:44happened even the warmer samples barely changed only a tiny number of microbes started waking up
02:50basically a microscopic trickle of activity but a few months later things got more exciting
02:57thanks to the heavy water scientists could watch how much of it the microbes used to build their cell
03:03membranes it helped them figure out that the old microbes were making special fatty molecules
03:08that might help them stay alive in freezing conditions by the six month mark the samples that
03:14were stored at the warmer temperatures had transformed completely they became more active and started
03:20forming little slime layers the scientists could actually see these layers even without a microscope
03:26the whole community of microbes wasn't super diverse but those that were active behaved just like
03:32modern microbes that live in unfrozen soil today in short those ancient microbes were definitely alive
03:40and got pretty energetic once the temperatures were warm enough this matters a lot for the arctic and for
03:48the whole planet because these microbes survive by eating old organic material trapped in the permafrost
03:54when they eat they release greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane and the arctic is warming
04:00faster than any other part of earth it means that the deep frozen layers might stay warm long enough for
04:07huge numbers of ancient microbes to wake up and start pumping out gas right now northern permafrost holds
04:15about twice as much carbon as the entire atmosphere if a lot of that carbon gets released it could speed up
04:22the warming of our planet it can lead to dramatic consequences setting off a whole chain of huge changes
04:30and affecting basically everything on earth extreme weather will start happening more often stronger
04:36hurricanes heavier rain storms longer heat waves bigger wildfires the oceans will rise too which can flood
04:44coastlines and put towns and cities at risk animals plants and entire ecosystems can get thrown out of
04:51balance with some species struggling to survive and food chains breaking down people all over the world will have
04:58to deal with crop failures water shortages and damaged homes or infrastructure let's get back to our zombie
05:06microbes the thing is the study only looked at them in one place in alaska but there's a massive amount
05:12of permafrost all over the world in alaska canada siberia and many other places and microbes in different
05:19regions might behave differently as things warm up scientists still have tons of work to do to figure out
05:25what's coming next i bet you're questioning yourself could ancient viruses infect us well most of the
05:33ancient microbes frozen in permafrost are totally harmless they're like old bacteria that only care
05:39about messing with other tiny organisms in the dirt but scientists worry that a few of these frozen germs
05:46might be the kind that can infect people animals or plants and if that happened our bodies probably
05:52wouldn't recognize them at all because they've been frozen since mammoths existed basically there's no
05:58immune system cheat codes for us the risks of this happening grow for a number of reasons for one
06:05thing the arctic is warming almost four times faster than the rest of the planet longer summers plus hotter
06:11temperatures mean more permafrost melting so more ancient stuff is waking up plus people might start
06:19digging more around there companies will mine more drill for oil and ships can travel new routes
06:26all this activity tears open ground that used to stay frozen solid this increases the chance that
06:32someone or something comes across some ancient germ that just woke up what would actually happen then
06:40we might run into different zoonotic diseases basically germs that jump from animals to humans this
06:46already happened once thawed reindeer carcasses released anthrax a rare and serious illness which
06:53then infected people and animals luckily we do know how to treat anthrax but what if something even older
07:00wakes up besides our immune system might have zero defense if a virus hasn't been around for tens of
07:07thousands of years humans today would be like uh what is that thing no antibodies no memories of it
07:14nothing but the scariest part is that we don't know what's hiding down there scientists think
07:20permafrost might be storing trillions of frozen microbes many of which we've never seen before
07:26some might be boring and some might be super dangerous so what if one such virus finally thawed out
07:35the world would be dealing with a disaster no one has ever seen before this wouldn't look like a normal
07:41outbreak it would feel more like something out of a horror movie first the virus would be totally new
07:47and our immune systems definitely wouldn't recognize it that means the virus would spread crazy fast
07:54jumping from person to person no one would know what to expect it could cause weird illnesses sudden
08:01fevers or even something way more dangerous stuff as scary as the diseases people faced in old times
08:09scientists digging in permafrost already look for traces of those ancient diseases so it's not
08:15impossible once it escapes the virus wouldn't stay local for long with people traveling everywhere and
08:21companies rushing into the warming arctic for mining and shipping the infection could go from one small
08:27arctic village to major cities all over the world within days hospitals would fill up instantly and
08:34doctors and nurses would run out of supplies businesses would shut down food supplies could
08:39crash if the virus hit farm animals or crops shipping and travel could freeze completely fear and panic
08:46would spread around the globe almost as fast as the virus itself there'd be no vaccine and no cure
08:54because no one has ever seen this virus before scientists would have to start from zero
09:01in short a zombie virus outbreak would be totally unpredictable and the modern world is certainly
09:08not ready for it that's it for today so hey if you pacified your curiosity then give the video a like
09:17and share it with your friends or if you want more just click on these videos and stay on the bright side
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