Melting ice, in addition to exposed human bodies, the world faces even more terrifying dangers
The threat may be even more serious than we realize. And it has nothing to do with ecosystems.
Climate change is melting the glaciers of Mount Everest, revealing human remains that had been buried for decades. Hundreds of people have died trying to climb the mountain since the 1990s, and their remains are being exposed as the planet warms.
But melting ice is not just a problem for Mount Everest; it is a problem worldwide. Since the early 20th century, glaciers have been melting at an ever-increasing rate, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Center.
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Bodies are gradually appearing on Everest. |
Take Glacier National Park, which had 150 glaciers in 1910, but now has fewer than 30. Or Greenland, an island that has always been covered in ice, which is now melting, with the ice melting season coming earlier and earlier each year.
As the ice melts, buried remains are gradually revealed. On Everest, they are the bodies of the unfortunate. But in many other places around the world, things are more serious, as what is revealed are diseases from ancient times.
A virus dating back 30,000 years has been found in the Arctic permafrost, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in 2015. Scientists are concerned that rising temperatures could revive deadly ancient pathogens.
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But melting ice doesn't just reveal dead bodies. |
This is entirely plausible. According to Jean-Michel Claverie, a biologist from Aix-Marseille University (France), viruses from the time humans first appeared can also be revived in the Arctic. In northern Russia, there are traces of Neanderthals that existed 30,000 - 40,000 years ago. They lived there, got sick, died and were buried under the permafrost.
In February 2017, NASA also found bacteria more than 50,000 years old in a mine in Mexico. Despite not seeing sunlight for tens of thousands of years, these bacteria can somehow resist 18 common antibiotics today.
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Melting ice also revives many ancient bacteria. |
"The rate at which ancient bacteria are resurrected and infect modern humans is unknown, but they do exist. They can be treated with antibiotics, but they can also be extremely dangerous, drug-resistant bacteria. And they can be viruses," Claverie shared.
"If ancient bacteria come into contact with humans, the immune system will not be prepared. That is a real danger."