Scientists awaken 40,000-year-old organisms emerging from underground tunnels

Scientists are searching for ancient creatures in the planet's permafrost, just like in John Carpenter's 1982 horror classic "The Thing."

Fortunately, the organisms found aren't as dangerous as the shapeshifting monster in the movie. However, the potential threat they pose could be one of the dangerous consequences of global warming.

According to a newly published study, microorganisms that have been frozen for nearly 40,000 years could deepen the climate crisis by releasing carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere if they reactivate as temperatures in the Arctic rise.

TUNNELS 100 METERS UNDERGROUND

Tristan Caro, lead author of the study published in the journal JGR Biogeosciences, and his team examined the Permafrost Tunnel Research Facility in central Alaska. The tunnel, which extends approximately 100 meters underground, still has mammoth and bison bones visible in its walls.

Caro described his first impression of the tunnel to Popular Mechanics: "When you walk in, you immediately notice a foul smell. It's like a damp basement that's been closed up for a long time. For a microbiologist, that's exciting, because interesting smells usually come from microbes."

Germs have accelerated in 6 months

After collecting samples of microbes from the last ice age, the researchers added heavy water (deuterium) to the samples and raised the temperature to around 12 degrees Celsius (40 degrees Fahrenheit). The goal was to observe how the microbes would react under future climate conditions simulating an Alaskan summer.

Initially, the microbes moved slowly, with only one in every 100,000 cells being replaced daily. However, after six months, the microbial colonies had restructured, forming visible biofilms. While different from modern microbes, these ancient organisms were equally active.

These findings are concerning for scientists because the Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the Earth, summers are getting longer, and temperatures are reaching deeper layers of the soil. However, the research shows that it takes months for microbes to fully "wake up," meaning the effects may only become apparent after extended periods of heat.

Caro issued the following warning regarding the future:

"A single warm day in Alaska doesn't really matter. The real danger is that the summer will be extended, and the heat will persist into autumn and spring. Alaska, Siberia, and other northern regions have vast areas of permafrost, and we've only been able to examine a tiny fraction of them."