Well so it begins.

  • Boddhisatva@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    48
    ·
    1 year ago

    This is kind of like time travel in a way. If one were to go back in time, you would mainly need to worry about the diseases and parasites you bring back with you. You are descended from those who learned to survive the diseases of the past so you are likely to have some resistance to it. You wouldn’t be perfectly safe of course, but not likely at more risk than if you stayed in your own time.

    On the other hand, if you travel forward in time, like this nematode did, you are entering a realm that is full of virus, bacteria, and even fungus that have had decades to learn new tricks to survive that you would have no inherent resistance to.

    The chance of there being some sleeping time bomb in the permafrost seems low to me since everything alive today is descended from those who survived that germ or parasite in the past.

    • nicerdicer@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      1 year ago

      Good point. I never thaught about it this way. Maybe these nematodes will not introduce diseases. But will they suppress recent fauna? Will these worms displace current worms or other species on a microbiological level? Or maybe these worms have a cure for recent diseases?

    • EtherWhack@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      They could have also just been endemic to that area, and a host’s resistance possibly linked to a recessive gene. (like sickle cell and malaria in Africa) Following their period of removal from the environment, and with the traveling and immigration of humans and other animals, those genes could be dominated by another form or missing altogether.

    • expatriado@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      17
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      time travel in a way

      maybe worms know a thing or two about traveling through space-time wormholes