In what could be the opening scene to a science fiction movie, French scientists have thawed and reactivated a 30,000 year old giant virus from the Siberian permafrost.
Luckily the pithovirus only attacks amoebas, but researchers warn that as exploration and development of the polar regions increase, it is possible that we may come across potentially harmful pathogens and viruses that have been frozen for millennia.
In a report published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team, led by Chantal Abergel of Aix-Marseille University and Jean-Michel Claverie, used amoebas to draw out the virus from the permafrost and then filmed its entire life-cycle as shown in the video above from the New Scientist.
The pithovirus measures 1.5 micrometres long and 0.5 micrometres wide making it the largest known virus in the world, 30% bigger than the previous record holder, the pandoravirus.