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A 46,000-year-old worm found in Siberian permafrost was brought back to life, and started having babies
(www.businessinsider.com)
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this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
520 points (98.5% liked)
Mildly Interesting
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This is kind of like time travel in a way. If one were to go back in time, you would mainly need to worry about the diseases and parasites you bring back with you. You are descended from those who learned to survive the diseases of the past so you are likely to have some resistance to it. You wouldn't be perfectly safe of course, but not likely at more risk than if you stayed in your own time.
On the other hand, if you travel forward in time, like this nematode did, you are entering a realm that is full of virus, bacteria, and even fungus that have had decades to learn new tricks to survive that you would have no inherent resistance to.
The chance of there being some sleeping time bomb in the permafrost seems low to me since everything alive today is descended from those who survived that germ or parasite in the past.
Good point. I never thaught about it this way. Maybe these nematodes will not introduce diseases. But will they suppress recent fauna? Will these worms displace current worms or other species on a microbiological level? Or maybe these worms have a cure for recent diseases?
They could have also just been endemic to that area, and a host's resistance possibly linked to a recessive gene. (like sickle cell and malaria in Africa) Following their period of removal from the environment, and with the traveling and immigration of humans and other animals, those genes could be dominated by another form or missing altogether.
maybe worms know a thing or two about traveling through space-time wormholes