C2C... As the Arctic ice floes melt a new and deadly menace may be thawed to menace all mankind, and it's not flooded coastal cities!
Viruses from the primordial soup era may have been deep-frozen within the frozen wasteland for eons, keeping us safe from deadly super-diseases that there may no cure for.
According to a new study published in PNAS, researchers revealed they are examining a thawed pathogen from Siberia that is over 30,000 years old.
The prehistoric germ, Mollivirus sibericum, was able to infect a present-day single celled organism, an amoeba, which is raising red flags,Popular Science reported.
While scientists say they haven't discovered any Super-Viruses yet that may cause an extinction event - they are worried. And it may not be just thawing ice that frees primordial pathogens, but drilling for oil in the northern wasteland.
"If we are not careful and we industrialize these areas without putting safeguards in place, we run the risk of one day waking up viruses…we thought were eradicated," lead researcher Jean-Michel Claverie told AFP.
And that's only the germs we know about. A previously unknown super-disease may awaken and decimate the world, researchers fear.