Worms frozen in permafrost for 42,000 years have sprung back to life, scientists say.

Experts managed to coax the two roundworms back to life after thawing the ice that had imprisoned them since the era of woolly mammoths.

The experiment could provide a breakthrough in the fields of astrobiology and cryonics, since it demonstrates the 'ability of multi-cellular organisms to survive long-term', the researchers claimed.

Cryonics, which bridges the gap between science-fiction and reality, is a field that hopes to suspend people in time by freezing their bodies for years.

The end goal is to keep people on ice for centuries at the time, long enough to allow for long-term interplanetary exploration.

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Two nematodes from Siberia are moving and eating again for the first time since the Pleistocene age 42,000 years ago

The ancient roundworms - frozen since the era of woolly mammoths - started wriggling again in Petri dishes at a Russian institute (pictured)

The nematodes were coaxed back to life in a Petri dishes in a laboratory at the Institute of Physico-Chemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science, near Moscow.

Russian researchers team worked with geoscientists from Princeton University, New Jersey, USA to analyse more than 300 frozen worms to find suitable candidates.

According to researchers, only two ‘were shown to contain viable nematodes’.



One of these was found in permafrost near the Alazeya River back in 2015, and believed to be around 41,700 years old.

The other was taken in 2002 from an prehistoric squirrel burrow in Duvanny Yar outcrop in the lower reaches of the Kolyma River, and is around 32,000 years old.

This location is close to the site of Pleistocene Park, an experimental project seeking to recreate the Arctic habitat of the extinct woolly mammoth.

Both sites are in Yakutia, which is renown for being the coldest region of Russia.

The worms were coaxed back to life in Petri dishes in a laboratory at the Institute of Physico-Chemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science near Moscow. The breakthrough demonstrates the ability of multicellular organisms to survive long-term

Both specimens were found in the Yakutia region of Siberia, which is known to be the coldest region of the country

WHAT IS CRYONICS? WHAT IS CRYONICS? The deep freezing of a body to -196°C (-321°F). Anti-freeze compounds are injected into the corpse to stop cells being damaged. The hope is that medical science will advance enough to bring the patient back to life. Two main US organisations carry out cryonics in the US: Alcor, in Arizona, and the Cryonics Institute, in Michigan. Russian firm KrioRus is one of two facilities outside the US to offer the service, alongside Alcor's European laboratory in Portugal. HOW IS IT MEANT TO WORK? The process can only take place once the body has been declared legally dead. Ideally, it begins within two minutes of the heart stopping and no more than 15. The body must be packed in ice and injected with chemicals to reduce blood clotting. At the cryonics facility, it is cooled to just above 0°C and the blood is replaced with a solution to preserve organs. Cryonpreservation is the deep freezing of a body to - 196°C (-321°F). Anti-freeze compounds are injected into the corpse to stop cells being damaged The body is injected with another solution to stop ice crystals forming in organs and tissues, then cooled to -130°C. The final step is to place the body into a container which is lowered into a tank of liquid nitrogen at -196°C. WHAT'S THE CHANCE OF SUCCESS? Many experts say there is none. Organs such as the heart and kidneys have never been successfully frozen and thawed. It is even less likely a whole body, and the brain, could be without irreversible damage. HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? Charges at the Cryonics Institute start at around £28,000 ($35,000) to 'members' for whole-body cryopreservation. Rival group Alcor charges £161,000 ($200,000) while KrioRus' procedure will set you back £29,200 ($37,600). HOW LONG BEFORE PEOPLE CAN BE BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE? Cryonics organisations claim it could be decades or even centuries. However, medical experts say once cells are damaged during freezing and turned to 'mush' they cannot be converted back to living tissue, any more than you can turn a scrambled egg back into a raw egg. Advertisement

'After being defrosted, the nematodes showed signs of life – they started moving and eating,' said another report on the findings cited by The Siberian Times.

According to the international team of researchers, this latest breakthrough demonstrates 'the ability of multicellular organisms to survive long-term – tens of thousands of years' in a state of 'natural cryoconservation.'

'It is obvious that this ability suggests that the Pleistocene nematodes have some adaptive mechanisms that may be of scientific and practical importance for the related fields of science, such as cryomedicine, cryobiology, and astrobiology,' the researchers wrote in the report, published in journal Doklady Biological Sciences.

One of the worms was from a site near the Alazeya River (pictured), found in permafrost in 2015, and believed to be some 41,700 years old

A second worm was taken in 2002 from an prehistoric squirrel burrow in Duvanny Yar outcrop in the lower reaches of the Kolyma River (pictured), and is around 32,000 years old