SIBERIA: A bdelloid rotifer has been brought back to life after being frozen for 24,000 years in Siberia.
This is an event worthy of the movie “Hibernatus”. A microscopic organism called the bdelloide rotifer came back to life after being frozen for 24,000 years in Siberia, then managed to clone itself, Russian scientists announced.
The discovery raises questions about the mechanisms used by the multicellular animal to endure this long period of rest.
The research team used a drilling rig to take core samples from the Alazeia River in the Russian Arctic, then used radiocarbon dating to determine the specimen’s age to be between 23,960 and 24,485 years.