With Halloween behind us, I have to admit I need a few days to shake off a month-long binge of horror movies. So when I read about 42,000-year-old worms “wiggling” to life somewhere in the frozen tundra of Siberia, it is only natural I felt a shiver thinking about the horror movie The Thing. However, as November switches to Christmas mode, it gets easier to look at the scientific side of the story as opposed to say the science fiction potential of the whole thing. The nematodes found in a sample of permafrost sediment frozen for 42,000 years set a record for the longest any animal survived a deep freeze. (1)

Siberian Worms

Scientifically referred to as “cryogenic preservation”, the nematodes appeared in frozen soil samples collected by Russian biologists. Each of the 300 samples collected represented a different age from different Arctic locations. Upon studying the sample from remote northeastern Russia, two different genera of nematodes appeared. (1)

This shows how remarkably hardy such a creature is – surviving millennia after millennia and nonchalantly coming back to life once warmed. They reached about 20 degrees Celsius, or 68 degrees Fahrenheit for a few weeks before they resurrected from the ice. (1)

Siberian Worms 30 Meters Down

The nematodes are of the Panagrolaimus genus. They lived 30 meters (100 feet) down in a squirrel burrow which froze over about 32,000 years ago. Another group is of the Plectus genus found 3.5 meters (about 11.5 feet) or so down showing an age of approximately 42,000 years when carbon dated. (1)

Since these worms don’t tend to burrow this deep, the chance seasonal thawing occurred is unlikely. The warmest temperatures that stood a chance to awaken the worms happened about 9000 years ago. These facts indicate the worms definitely nestled in for a long winter’s nap about 42,000 years ago. (1)

Siberian Worms And Bacteria

While scientists do revive ancient organisms such as this, it doesn’t mean larger, more complicated species can survive in the same conditions. For example back in 2000, spores from Bacillus bacteria found in salt crystals revived after 250 million years. A woolly mammoth or dinosaur let alone a “caveman” would not be so lucky. The tissue of such complicated species just wouldn’t survive over tens of thousands of years. (1)

Siberian Worms Much Hardier

The nematode is a hardy creature and has been revived in the past. However, those creatures found in herbarium samples were only about 39-years old. Another worm type, the tardigrade, survive in extreme conditions and can repair broken DNA even once dried out. But again, that record is only about 30 years of survival. (1)

Siberian Worms Offer Valuable Insight

Scientists feel studying how the nematodes survived could offer insight into cryopreservation technologies. Studies on other animals such as wood frogs have contributed to possible ways of storing human tissues used for transplants. Of course, the possibility of an entire body’s preservation and revival can’t be overlooked. (1)

“It is obvious that this ability suggests that the Pleistocene nematodes have some adaptive mechanisms that may be of scientific and practical importance for the related fields of science, such as cryomedicine, cryobiology, and astrobiology,” the researchers note in their report. (1)

Cue spooky theremin music here.