A new type of organism discovered in an Arctic tunnel came to life in the lab after being frozen for 32,000 years.
"The existence of microorganisms in these harsh environments suggests — but does not promise -- that we might one day discover similar life forms in the glaciers or permafrost of Mars or in the ice crust and oceans of Jupiter’s moon Europa," said Richard Hoover, an astrobiologist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
"They immediately started swimming when the ice melted," Hoover told LiveScience, adding that the cryopreserved bacteria were instantly ready to eat and multiply.
The new bacterium thrives under a microscope despite having been thawed from ice dating back some 32,000 years, to the Pleistocene era. Living bacteria are stained green.