Last summer, Russian scientists reported that a pair of 42,000 year old nematodes had been successfully revived after being frozen all that time in the permafrost of Siberia. Despite the stunning longevity of these roundworms, bacteria have preservation powers that are almost beyond belief.
From early successes at reviving bacteria from cans of meat over a hundred years old, to more recent attempts with specimens frozen in ancient salt crystals and amber. In 2000, US scientists reported success in reviving organisms that laid dormant in suspended animation of 250 million years.
They key to this resilience seems to lie in spores. When bacteria and yeast face unlivable conditions, they produce these resilient structures that can develop into new organisms once favorable conditions can return.
