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Radioactive material in the Arctic: Researchers warn of "zombie viruses" from permafrost© Provided by Gentside DE
According to the Alfred Wegener Institute, permafrost is subsoil whose "temperature has been below zero degrees Celsius for at least two consecutive years." In the Arctic, which researchers hope to save thanks to an unusual idea, these types of soils could eventually unearth something sinister.
Fear of new epidemic
As the Sun reports, researchers have discovered "traces of viruses and bacteria that can infect people" in the ice masses of the Arctic, where even German rubbish can be found. This is worrying in itself; However, other substances hidden in the eternal ice are also problematic: radioactive waste, which the Soviet Union simply dumped in the Arctic at the time, according to the MDR, causes the researchers particular headaches.
Should the ice in the Arctic melt, several scientists will sound the alarm: the viruses lurking in the permafrost could allegedly lead to a new epidemic. In comparison, the hidden worlds under the thick layers of ice are almost boring.
The immune system: powerless against viruses from the permafrost?
Birgitta Evengård, from the University of Umea in Sweden, points out the potential danger to The Sun:
If there is a virus hidden in the permafrost that we haven't come into contact with for thousands of years, it could be that our immune defenses are not sufficient.
Kimberley Miner, who works for NASA in Pasadena, California, is also concerned about global warming and some of its consequences. She describes it as extremely important "to keep the permafrost frozen":
We really don't know how these microbes will interact with the modern environment.
