A team of scientists have found dozens of new types of viruses when studying ancient ice samples that they collected from glaciers on the Tibetan plateau. The samples of glacier ice are as old as 15,000 years. With so many new viral species that were previously unknown to science, the discovery could open up new pathways to understand how viruses evolve. When the team identified the viruses present in the ice samples, they found at least 33 different types. The team of scientists also found that at least half of these viruses were well-adapted to living in extreme cold temperatures inside ice.

Source: dna July 21, 2021 10:18 UTC