15,000-yr-old viruses found in China & the unique shark intestines that work like a Tesla valve - ThePrint

New Delhi: A team of scientists have discovered nearly 15,000-year-old viruses in two ice samples taken from the Tibetan Plateau in China and most of them are unlike any viruses that have been catalogued to date.

The findings may help scientists understand how viruses evolved over centuries.

Ice cores are like time capsules that scientists have used to understand more about climate change, microbes, viruses and gases throughout history.

The team found genetic codes for 33 viruses in the core.

The analysis also showed that the viruses likely originated from soil or plants, not animals or humans, based on both the environment and the databases of known viruses.

The researchers primarily used a computerised tomography (CT) scanner to create 3D images of shark intestines, which came from specimens preserved at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles in the US.

The new images allow scientists to study an extragalactic radio jet on scales smaller than the distance light travels in one day.

Called the Russian Multipurpose Research Module (MLM), also known as Nauka, the module was launched aboard the Proton-M rocket from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 21 July.

The Nauka module will provide a second toilet for Russian cosmonauts, and room for a third crew-member.

The fossil was found in the US and has a serpent-like body, which inspired the researchers to name the species after Jörmungandr, a giant sea serpent from Norse mythology who battled with Thor.

The fossil that researchers found also contained the animal’s skin, which is very rare for fossils.