Creatures Frozen for 32,000 Years Still Alive

Let’s see: “alien” bacteria, 32,000 years old, re-introduced to our environment, still alive after being frozen for hundreds of centuries… does this not sound like something straight out of the X-Files? Add to that the recent discovery of ice fields on Mars and NASA plans to bringing back samples from the red planet (potentially chock-full of new/old life); and what do you get? How about Sci-Fi’s worst possible outcome given form?

I’m all for exploration and the eventual need for man to move into space. I just hope our stumbling first steps don’t wipe us out before get past our own universe.

A new type of organism discovered in an Arctic tunnel came to life in the lab after being frozen for 32,000 years.

The deep-freeze bacteria could point to new methods of cryogenics, and they are the sort of biology scientists say might exist on Mars and other planets and moons.

“The existence of microorganisms in these harsh environments suggests — but does not promise — that we might one day discover similar life forms in the glaciers or permafrost of Mars or in the ice crust and oceans of Jupiter’s moon Europa,” said Richard Hoover, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.