Fearsome microbes hidden in the deep layers of permafrost

The Vektor Institute was used in the Soviet era for the development of biological weapons. Long remained secret, it is today one of the only two places on the planet where the smallpox virus is kept. And it is also in this highly secure establishment that research on prehistoric viruses was launched a few months ago. Russian scientists are studying the tissues of a horse nearly 6500 years old, discovered in the Siberian permafrost (in French, "permafrost") in 2009. Corpses of mammoths, elks, rodents ... These researchers, explains the

, aim to proceed with whole genome sequencing in order to

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And to learn more about

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With global warming, the resurgence of viruses or bacteria hitherto buried in permafrost is a source of growing concern, as the pandemic

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