What is the nearly 50,000-yr-old 'zombie virus' revived by scientists recently?
Thirteen ancient viruses frozen in Siberian permafrost (permanently frozen ground) were recently revived by French scientists. These are called 'zombie viruses' as they have remained dormant since the prehistoric times. The oldest of these viruses is a 48,500-year-old amoeba virus named Pandoravirus yedoma, which was found at the bottom of a lake in Yakutia, Russia.