MOSCOW, March 4 (RIA Novosti) – A virus frozen for 30,000 years in Siberian permafrost has been revived by a team of French and Russian scientists, they said Monday.
The researchers named the microbe “Pithovirus” after the “pithos” container that Pandora opened in Greek mythology, supposedly unleashing evil upon the world.
But the virus – among the largest known – belongs to a type that only preys upon amoebas and does not directly threaten humans, the scientists said in a research paper.
The scientists concluded, however, that the virus’s ability to reactivate after lying dormant for 30 millennia suggests that other, more harmful pathogens could be released by the thawing of polar tundra due to global warming or industrial activity.
