Eight million years on ice?

Chunks of glacier dug up from Antarctica have revealed a startling cargo, Rutgers University scientists announced yesterday: bacteria that had apparently lain dormant in the ice for up to eight million years.

Despite their badly degraded DNA, some of the ancient microbes were able to reproduce after being warmed up in a New Brunswick laboratory, and their genetic code has offered a snapshot of the distant past.

The team said its findings, published in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help tackle a wide range of scientific questions, from the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria to the mysteries of life on Mars.

Also on the horizon is the question of what would happen if glaciers, continuing to melt as a result of global warming, were to release DNA from long ago into the oceans.
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