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posted by girlwhowaspluggedout on Tuesday March 04 2014, @06:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the but-does-it-still-taste-fresh dept.

hubie writes:

"A group at the Institut de Microbiologie de la Mediterranee, Aix Marseille Universite, revived a "giant" virus that had been embedded in permafrost for approximately 30,000 years. The virus was found in the tundra near East Siberia and is thus named Pithovirus sibericum. It is the latest entry in the class of large viruses called Megaviridae, which are so large that they are visible under an ordinary optical microscope:

P. sibericum is, on the scale of viruses, a giant - it has 500 genes, whereas the influenza virus has only eight.

This particular virus is harmless to humans and animals, but it demonstrates there could be unknown health repercussions as more permafrost thaws as the result of a warming planet."

 
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  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 04 2014, @07:05AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 04 2014, @07:05AM (#10483)

    Why can't we cover something that /. hasn't yet covered ?

    Starting Score:    0  points
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       Offtopic=1, Flamebait=1, Underrated=1, Total=3
    Extra 'Flamebait' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   -1  
  • (Score: 1) by Taibhsear on Tuesday March 04 2014, @03:57PM

    by Taibhsear (1464) on Tuesday March 04 2014, @03:57PM (#10700)

    Simpsons did it!

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by hubie on Tuesday March 04 2014, @05:05PM

    by hubie (1068) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 04 2014, @05:05PM (#10760) Journal

    To be fair, it wasn't up on Slashdot when I submitted it (I did check). I feel the same way as you and I would prefer to submit non-overlapping stories. Obviously overlap is unavoidable if the story is interesting enough, and I wouldn't want this site to marginalize itself by only posting stories that aren't on Slashdot.