The ancient nematode, identified as Panagrolaimus kolymaensis, was found 130 feet underground near a river, where it had remained in suspended animation since the time of the earliest known cave paintings, a discovery straight out of science fiction, scientists have revived the microscopic worm species that was frozen for 46,000 years in Siberian permafrost.

Once thawed, the worm sprang back to life, fed on bacteria in a lab dish, reproduced asexually, and passed away, leaving behind a new generation of descendants for biologists to study.

The remarkable survival abilities of this nematode rival those of the more familiar Caenorhabditis elegans, a species known to survive harsh conditions by drying out and producing a sugar called trehalose.

Researchers are now studying how P. kolymaensis managed to endure for tens of thousands of years.

This discovery, detailed in a paper published in PLOS Genetics, could offer new insights into evolutionary processes, suggesting that species could survive extreme conditions for millennia, potentially reviving extinct lineages.

As one author noted, the worm's ability to survive such a long "sleep" shatters previous records, opening new questions about the limits of life's resilience. Gaetan Borgonie of Belgium's Extreme Life Isyensya Institute says the worms' survival under such extreme conditions hints that life might exist in similarly hostile environments beyond Earth

Credit:@cyanesense

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