Virus on ice

Scientists who study glacier ice have found viruses nearly 15,000 years old in two ice samples taken from Guliya ice cap on the Tibetan Plateau in China. Most of the viruses, which survived because they had remained frozen, are unlike any that have been catalogued to date. ‘We know very little about viruses and microbes in these extreme environments, and what is actually there,’ said Professor Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University, the senior author of the study. ‘The documentation and understanding of that is extremely important. How do bacteria and viruses respond to climate change? What happens when we go from an ice age to a warm period like we’re in now?’