Could a ‘zombie’ virus kill us all?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 February 2019
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s the sort of plot you would expect from a classic sci-fi movie; what if there are viruses trapped deep in Antarctic ice that could wreak havoc on humans?
Crowdscience presenter Alex Lathbridge puts on warm gloves and meets the scientists venturing into the icy wilds. He wants to answer listener Tony’s question - can viral life exist in such inhospitable climes and if so, might it pose us a danger?
Alex meets teams who venture to the Antarctic to find out about how their work to understand climate change leads them to drilling and analysing ice cores that are tens of thousands of years old. He then visits a dynamic husband and wife duo in France who are extracting viruses from 30,000 year old Siberian permafrost and bringing them back to life. He discovers that - rather than killing us all, - their findings of novel giant viruses might contribute to medicine and our understanding of evolution.
(Photo: Scientists working in a laboratory. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.4 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. It's permanent winter in a barren and frozen land. |
| 0:40.0 | Thousands of miles away from civilization, dedicated scientists stand huddled around a drill. |
| 0:45.0 | Plunging deep, deep into the Antarctic, they're bringing up from the depths ice that's been buried for a millennia. But have they dug too deep? |
| 0:56.4 | And are they ready for the ancient viruses that they're releasing upon the globe? |
| 1:02.3 | Hello, you're listening to Crowd Science with me Alex Lathbridge. |
| 1:06.0 | Okay, so Crowd Science isn't a movie which is good because radio is an audio medium |
| 1:11.2 | but this week's question definitely sounds like the trailer for the best |
| 1:14.4 | sci-fi film ever created. |
| 1:20.3 | This week on Crowd Science, the program that turns your curious minds into audio adventures, |
| 1:24.6 | I'm going in search for the science behind the fiction because of listener Tony Vandahast. |
| 1:29.2 | He emailed us from the south of France to ask, |
| 1:31.6 | Is it possible that an ancient virus that the human race has no |
| 1:35.4 | immunity against can be brought up in cause samples extracted by scientists who drilled down |
| 1:41.1 | deep into Antarctic ice causing a pandemic. |
| 1:45.0 | Being frozen doesn't kill things. |
| 1:47.0 | If they are able to revive a plant, we should be able to revive a virus. |
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