Reliving It Up
“Time of death,” says a doctor on TV, after frantic efforts to get someone’s heart pumping again fail, “5:11 am.” If it were only that simple! Research is increasingly suggesting that death is a complex process, sometimes reversible—sometimes not. Explore the differences between resuscitation and resurrection, then, without getting too dark, discuss with your team: how much of a person’s mind needs to be intact for it to be a good idea to keep them alive—and who should decide? You may also want to explore some historical ideas about what happens after death, including those below:
MIT Technology Review is publishing a series that explores how technology is helping probe some of the deepest, most mind-bending questions of our existence. Article "What Is Death?" (published November 17, 2023) talks about how death is not as simple as on and off. "Dying is in fact a process—one with no clear point demarcating the threshold across which someone cannot come back." Neuroscientists, for example, are learning that the brain can survive surprising levels of oxygen
deprivation. This means the window of time that doctors have to reverse the death process could someday be extended. With future technology, organs likewise are recoverable for much longer than current medical limitation.
For much of human history, when the heart has stopped beating, that meant death. But CPR, invented in the 1960s challenged that notion. Mechanical ventilators were hooked to patients whose brains have died, but their heart was still pumping. So how do we define death? Thus, brain dead became a new way to define actual death.
In a bloody but interesting experiment with pigs. Even after their heads were chopped off, when their heads were placed in special oxygen-rich artificial blood infused with a cocktail of protective pharmaceuticals, the brain began healing up to 36 hours. This mean that we need to rethink is the threshold for brain dead. Another research of 85 patients who experienced cardiac arrest showed, "Most of the patients’ brain activity initially flatlined on EEG monitors, but for around 40% of them, near-normal electrical activity intermittently reemerged in their brains up to 60 minutes into CPR."
These new scientific research points to the fact that people are reaching new scientific frontiers to understand death "second by second," and find new technology that might be able to save or revive patients. Of course, this is going further into cryonics (freezing the body) and suspended animation. And, it raises the question, is living longer an advantage of the wealthy with means to extend their lives. The article argues that science is outpacing our legal and ethical frameworks, turning death into a fluid, debated phenomenon rather than a fixed endpoint.Nothing is fair in life and death and death is not as we knew it anymore.
In Norse mythology, Valhalla (Old Norse: Valhǫll, meaning "Hall of the Slain") is a grand hall within Asgard, ruled by the god Odin. Norse cosmology held that after death, a soul could journey to one of five realms:
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Fólkvangr: Governed by the goddess Freyja, a field where half the slain warriors reside.
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Hel: The underworld realm of Hel, Loki’s daughter, for those who died of illness or old age.
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Rán’s Domain: The watery abyss ruled by the sea goddess Rán, where drowned sailors were said to go.
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Burial Mounds: Some dead were believed to inhabit their graves, remaining close to the living.
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Valhalla: Odin’s glorious "Hall of Heroes," reserved for warriors who fell in battle (einherjar) and legendary kings.
In Valhalla, the einherjar prepare for Ragnarök—training in daily battles, feasting nightly, and awaiting their final clash alongside Odin against the giants. This vision of the afterlife embodied core Viking values: eternal glory through combat, camaraderie among foes, and the honor of dying weapon-in-hand.
The promise of Valhalla fueled the Vikings’ warrior ethos, distinguishing them from other cultures. By idealizing battle-death as a path to paradise, Norse belief instilled a fearless, aggressive spirit that shaped their legendary raids and conquests.
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The Walhalla temple above the Danube near Regensburg, Germany
In Greek cosmology, Tartarus represents both a primordial deity and the deepest chasm of the underworld. This fearsome abyss serves dual mythological purposes: as an eternal prison for defeated Titans and as a place of punishment for wicked souls after death. The concept evolved across Greek literature - in Hesiod's Theogony (8th-7th century BCE). Hesiod asserts that a bronze anvil falling from heaven would fall nine days before it reached the earth. The anvil would take nine more days to fall from earth to Tartarus. In the Iliad (c. 8th century BC), Zeus asserts that Tartarus is "as far beneath Hades as heaven is above earth." Tartarus appears among the first divine beings, emerging alongside Chaos and Gaia (Earth) at creation. Later philosophical works like Plato's Gorgias (circa 400 BCE) reimagined Tartarus as an underworld tribunal where souls faced judgment, with the damned condemned to perpetual torment. This progression reflects the Greeks' developing notions of divine justice, merging early cosmic mythology with later ethical frameworks.
In mythology, located far below Hades, Tartarus served as the prison for the Titans after their defeat by Zeus, secured behind bronze gates guarded by the Hecatoncheires (hundred-handed giants). Other famous characters in Tartarus include: Sisyphus, doomed to roll a boulder uphill forever, meaning if you offend the gods, you gotta pay forever!
While Hades was the neutral underworld for ordinary souls, Tartarus was reserved for active punishment. It also symbolized the Olympian gods’ victory over primordial forces. Its myths reinforced social morals through terrifying retributions.
Diyu (Chinese: 地狱) represents the Chinese mythological underworld, a complex afterlife realm where souls undergo judgment and punishment for earthly sins. This concept synthesizes multiple traditions including : Buddhist foundations (the Naraka hell realms) and Taoism and traditional Chinese folk religion. Diyu is a purgatory that serves to punish and renew spirits in preparation for reincarnation.
Structurally, Diyu is imagined as an underground labyrinth of tiered chambers or courts, though its organization varies by tradition. Often the ruler of Diyu is Yanluo Wang and he passes judgement on to each soul based on their sins on earth and how long they have to suffer the punishments in the relevant layers of Diyu. Before facing judgment in the Ten Courts, every soul must stand before the Mirror of Retribution (孽鏡臺, Nièjìng Tái), where their lifetime of sins is unveiled without deception. Only after completing their prescribed punishments—each tailored to their karmic transgressions—are souls cleared for reincarnation.
The 18 Levels of Diyu
Level 1: Punishment for minor lies – Tongue-pulling.
Level 2: Theft – Crushed by boulders.
Level 3: Adultery – Heart extraction.
Level 4: Fraud – Grinding in a mill.
Level 5: Corruption – Frozen in ice.
Level 6: Blasphemy – Dismemberment.
Level 7: Disrespect to ancestors – Boiled in oil.
Level 8: Murder – Repeated stabbing.
Level 9: Rebellion against the state – Flaying.
Level 10: Betrayal – Hanged on hooks.
Level 11: Torture of innocents – Burning in pits.
Level 12: Wastefulness – Force-fed filth.
Level 13: Animal cruelty – Torn apart by beasts.
Level 14: Abortion/Infanticide – Drowning in blood.
Level 15: Religious persecution – Pressed under mountains.
Level 16: Sorcery – Skewered on spikes.
Level 17: Treason – Eternal darkness.
Level 18: Ultimate sinners (e.g., mass murderers) – Endless cycle of all torments.
Jigoku (地獄) is the Japanese term for "hell," deeply rooted in Buddhist cosmology and traditional Japanese beliefs. It refers to a realm of suffering where souls are punished for their sins before being reborn. According to Buddhist beliefs, jingoku is part of the Six Realms of Reincarnation (Rokudō 六道), where beings are reborn based on karma. It is a place of torment for those who committed grave misdeeds in life.
There are two types of Jigoku. Eight Great Hells (Hachi Dai-Jigoku 八大地獄) each specializes in punishing different sins (e.g., murder, theft, deceit). Hot Hells or Tōkatsu Jigoku – "Reviving Hell" is where sinners are repeatedly killed and revived . Cold Hells or Abuda Jigoku – "Hell of Blue Lotus," is where victims freeze and crack like ice. There are also subsidiary Hells (Jūgo no Jigoku 十六小地獄) – with additional tortures for specific crimes.
Rulers & eemons in jigoku include Enma-Ō (Yama, King of Hell), who judges souls and assigns punishments. Oni (Demons) are responsible for torturing sinners with fire, blades, and other brutal methods. There are literary, religious, and even pop cultural references to jigoku. Of course, Japanese also use it in slang too, such as "Kono shigoto wa jigoku da!" – "This job is hell!".
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Nirvana is a term found in the texts of major Indian religions, including Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. It refers to the profound peace of mind acquired through spiritual practice, leading to liberation from suffering or release from the cycle of rebirth (samsara). From Sanskrit "nirvāṇa" means (extinction/blowing out) the cessation of greed, hatred, and delusion.In Buddhism, it represents the final spiritual practice of transcendence from suffering and desire. The state of nirvana is characterized by perfect happiness, peace, and enlightenment. Unlike heaven in Christian perspective, Nirvana is an unbinding - freedom from all attachment.
To achieve Nirvana, devout Buddhist follow the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path. There are two terminology related to nirvana. Nirvana means achieved in life, such as Buddha under the Bodhi tree. Parinirvana is final nirvana after death with no rebirth. The terminology has become more popular in today's pop culture and just means bliss or inner peace. It is also linked the the 90s rock band Nirvana.
Samsara is a fundamental concept in Indian religions—including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—referring to the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Driven by karma (the law of cause and effect), beings are perpetually reborn into different realms of existence based on their actions, desires, and spiritual ignorance. This cycle is characterized by suffering (duḥkha), impermanence, and the illusion of a fixed self (atman or anatta). Liberation (moksha or nirvana) is the ultimate goal, breaking free from samsara’s bondage.
In Buddhism, samsara is depicted as a wheel (bhavacakra) with six realms—gods, humans, asuras, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell-beings—each representing different karmic consequences. Hinduism and Jainism similarly view samsara as a karmic trap, where the soul (jiva) transmigrates until achieving enlightenment. While Hinduism emphasizes union with the divine (Brahman), Buddhism teaches the cessation of craving to escape samsara. Across traditions, samsara underscores the transient nature of life and the urgency of spiritual practice.
The "happy hunting ground" refers to an afterlife belief traditionally linked to certain Native American cultures. This phrase appears to have emerged from early European settlers' translations or interpretations of Indigenous spiritual concepts.
The expression "happy hunting ground" first emerged in print in 1823 within James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Pioneers, when a character declares: "Hawk-eye! My fathers call me to the happy hunting-grounds." Historical linguist Charles L. Cutler proposes that Cooper either originated or popularized this phrase as a descriptor for the afterlife. Following its appearance in Cooper's work, the term rapidly entered broader usage, appearing shortly afterward in writings by Washington Irving and other authors of the period. "On to happy hunting grounds." The phrase is first found in the last chapter of James Fenimore Cooper’s most famous novel, The Last of the Mohicans, published in 1826. Cooper has his title character Chingachgook say (after the death of his son Uncas). The fact that it appeared first in fiction makes it likely an "Indianism" fake Native American terms invented by White settlers and writers.
It’s not as convenient as a wardrobe, but tensei stories offer an alternative portal to fantastical worlds: death and reincarnation. Explore this genre and discuss with your team: what are some common themes in these works, and why might they be so popular today? Could ours be the world that someone from another world be reincarnated in and perceive as fantastical?
Tensei (転生 or 転世) is a Japanese term meaning "reincarnation," "transmigration," or "rebirth"—the concept of a soul being born into a new body after death. It appears in both Buddhist/Shinto spirituality and modern anime/manga/light novels, often with different nuances. Isekai (alternate world) tales have exploded in popularity within anime and manga, spawning numerous distinct subgenres. A prime example is tensei ("reincarnation") stories, where protagonists don't merely travel to another world—they die and are reborn there as someone new, retaining their past-life memories. Another rising trend is the akuyaku reijo ("noble villainess") niche, a tensei offshoot where characters awaken as high-status antagonists in their new world—figures who would typically play the villain in traditional isekai narratives.
In fact, in search site for digital manga, there are more than 1,771 results for tensei, and “akuyaku reijo” has 365! To find out why this genre is so popular, the article includes an interview with veteran manga editor Y-san.
Y-san: I think That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime becoming a hit was a major turning point. The series started as a web novel on the site Shosetsuka ni Narou (“Let’s Become Novelists”), and once it got popular there, it got turned into a manga. There are a lot of reincarnation stories on the site, so many that some people also call tensei stories “Narou stories.”
In the industry, we used to have a lot of time travel stories, or teni (“transfer”) stories, where someone would go to a different time or place while still retaining their original appearance and identity. But the tensei stories that are in vogue now are different in that the main character dies in our world, then they awaken in a different world as a different person, but with their real-world memories intact.
Y-san: I think the reason for that is to appeal to readers who want to become a different person than they are now and redo their life. It’s a frequent characteristic of tensei stories that the main character’s real-world background and what kind of person they were before coming to the alternate world aren’t treated as being very important.
Mariko: What about villainess reincarnation stories? I notice a lot of comics aimed at women recently where the main character was a timid person in the real world, and I can understand the desire to be reborn as a more powerful person, but why a villainess?
Y-san: Well, for a long time, the standard pattern in shojo manga has been that the main character is eventually rewarded for being purehearted and earnest. But with the advancement of social media, I think that messier, more realistic emotions and romance have become more visible, and that some people are tired of such purehearted main characters.
Mariko: I think there aren’t many people who can live their lives like a pure, earnest shojo heroine.
Y-san: But in contrast, a powerful villainess can be forcefully bold and tell off people she doesn’t like. I think that’s something people find appealing. Stories where the villainess breaks off an engagement are popular too. It might be a result of empathizing with that desire to be free of a man’s control.
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Isekai anime offers escapist fantasy and wish fulfillment, often featuring relatable underdog protagonists.
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Many isekai stories draw from video game tropes and concepts, appealing to gamers and non-gamers alike.
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Isekai protagonists are often idealized, with attractive appearances and extraordinary abilities, providing a power fantasy for viewers.
Isekai is popular due to the escapist nature of the genre, especially since so many of the main characters are underdogs. Able to live a new life and not be relegated to the sidelines of life, the genre is the epitome of wish fulfillment. Whether they were a relative hikikomori that barely experienced life or a generic salaryman who had become bored with life, their previous existence offered few thrills or areas of excitement. In some cases, the employees are already middle-aged office workers whose prospects seem bleak in terms of truly making something of themselves.
Many of the core elements and tropes in the isekai genre are based on classic fantasy video games, namely Japanese role-playing games such as Dragon Quest. These extend to modern online role-playing games, and the adaptation of these concepts is a huge part of why isekai is so popular. Additionally, Isekai anime can also showcase the comradery seen in online role-playing video games, with clans, parties, teams and guilds, all resulting in bonds that can be as close as those in the "real world."
However, isekai protagonists are also unrealistically beautiful. In most cases, women fall for male isekai heroes far more easily than they did in their previous lives. Isekai female protagonists are always beautiful even if they become villainess. With somewhat predictable storylines, and interesting yet stereotypical characters, isekai are borderline episodic and interchangeable ideal for those who simply want a relaxing show that requires little brainpower and perhaps even less consciousness are always down to watch more isekai.
People have searched for ways to live forever—well, basically forever. Today, many fields of scientific research, many spurred on by billionaires, promise that we are on the cusp of finding the answer—or at least a way to extend our lives in unprecedented ways. Explore the following technologies and discuss with your team: would you choose to undergo these treatments if they were available to you? Would it be good for society if people lived for centuries?
Immortality might seem like the stuff of science fiction, yet It's increasingly becoming the focus of scientific research. In 2013, Google launched Calico, a bio tech firm whose mission is to "solve death". PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel (right) is making it his life goal to "fight" death with all his money and might. Amazon's Jeff Bezos also invested in Altos Lab a company develop technology to "rejuvenate cells" to "reverse disease." It is estimated that the immortality business is worth $610 billion by 2025.
Immortality is nothing new. It's been man's fascination since early Mesopotamia with the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the epic, Gilgamesh's best friend dies and he cries to the heavens, "Must I die too?" and sets out on a mission to "overcome death. He is not alone, of course. China's Qin Shi Huang (3rd century BCE) was also adamant about living forever. He was fanatical and even outlawed anything that mentioned "death". He met a sorcerer named Xu Fu who claimed he knew where to find an "elixir of life" in the South China Sea and Qin funded his expedition. He eventually got himself killed at age 49 due to mercury poisoning.
In France, in the 16th-century France, Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of France's King Henry II, used to drink gold to preserve her good looks. Her superstition was based on alchemy and legend of the Philosopher's Stone. Some rulers went even further in their chase of anti-aging remedies. In 1492, the moribund Pope Innocent VIII was injected with the blood of children believing that if the elderly sucked the blood of the youth "like leeches" it would turn back their biological clock. At the turn of the 17th century, Hungarian countess Elizabeth Bathory bathed in the blood of virgins to keep her skin from wrinkling. Some other even weirder ideas were tried in the 19th century with guinea pigs, dog testicles and monkey private parts. Totally crazy! No terrible history story would be complete without the Nazis. During WWII, Heinrich Himmler embarked on a quest for the Holy Grail (watch the Indian Jones movie).
Modern immortality seekers are ditching mythology for science and finding ways to hack cells, such as the company bio.bio which is trying to find ways to cure Alzheimer's through genetic coding. It's off to a promising start, but immortality is likely still a long way off.
Launched in February 2011 by 31-year-old Russian billionaire Dmitry Itskov, the 2045 Initiative is a life-extension project that outlines a 33-year roadmap to achieving immortality. The plan starts with robotic avatars controlled remotely, progresses to digitally replicating the human brain, and ultimately aims to transfer human consciousness into holographic bodies for eternal life. Backed by a strong social media presence, the initiative has assembled a team of 30 leading Russian scientists to develop this "immortal" technology.
2015 - 2020: A robotic copy of a human body remotely controlled by a brain-computer interface
2020 - 2025: An avatar is created in which a human brain can be transplanted at the end of life
2030 - 2035: An avatar that can now contain an artificial brain to transfer upon the human's end of life
2040 - 2045: A holographic avatar emerges
The 2045 Initiative has also established its own political movement—Evolution 2045—advocating a radical new vision for humanity’s future. This Russia-based party promotes a worldwide shift in priorities, urging nations to compete not in military dominance but in "forging a brighter destiny for humankind." Dmitry Itskov reached out to individuals on the Forbes Billionaires List, hailing investment in cybernetic immortality and artificial body research. "Supporting breakthroughs in neuroscience, nanotechnology, and android robotics isn’t just about securing humanity’s future—it’s also a strategic business opportunity," he wrote in an open letter. "This emerging immortality industry will be transformative, reshaping every sector and unlocking unprecedented economic potential."
Itskov intends to organize a Global Future Congress in New York in 2026. In the 2045 Initiative's promotional video, it suggests that once holographic avatars redefine human existence, society will shift away from conflict, focusing instead on spiritual growth and self-improvement. So what's the price for immortality via avatar? The price of a car.
Current Cryopreservation Techniques:
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Vitrification (Not Freezing): Modern cryonics uses vitrification, replacing blood with cryoprotectants to prevent ice crystal damage. Organs like kidneys have been vitrified, rewarmed, and successfully transplanted in animal trials.
For cryonics to work, future science would need:
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Molecular Repair (Nanotechnology): Hypothetical nanobots could repair cellular damage caused by aging, disease, or preservation.
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Whole-Body Regeneration: Advances in stem cells, tissue engineering, and organ regeneration might allow full-body reconstruction.
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Brain Emulation (Mind Uploading): If consciousness is tied to neural structure, future tech might "reboot" a preserved brain digitally or biologically.
Challenges & Limitations:
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Ischemic Damage: Without immediate preservation after death, brain degradation begins within minutes.
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Ethical & Legal Issues: Cryonics operates in a legal gray area—patients are considered legally dead, and revival is not guaranteed.
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Long-Term Storage Risks: Power failures, facility bankruptcies, or societal collapse could disrupt preservation.
Recent Advancements:
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Brain Preservation Prize (2018): A team successfully preserved a rabbit brain with near-perfect synaptic structure using chemical fixation.
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Cryopreservation of Organs: Researchers have cryopreserved and revived rat hearts and pig livers with some functionality.
Biomechatronics is an interdisciplinary field combining biology with mechatronics—which includes electrical, mechanical, and electronic engineering—along with robotics and neuroscience. This field focuses on creating advanced devices, such as prosthetic limbs, as well as innovative solutions for respiratory, visual, and cardiovascular systems.
Biomechatronics replicates the intricate workings of the human body. Take walking, for instance—a process requiring four precise steps:
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Neural Command: The brain's motor center sends signals to the muscles in the foot and leg.
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Sensory Feedback: Nerve cells in the feet relay information back to the brain, allowing it to adjust muscle force based on terrain (e.g., pavement vs. sand).
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Position Sensing: Muscle spindles in the leg detect the ground’s position and transmit data to the brain.
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Movement Execution: Finally, signals direct the muscles to lift and place the foot for the next step.
The demand for biomechatronic devices has surged, driven by breakthroughs in prosthetic technology. Innovations like Touch Bionics’ i-limb—the first prosthetic hand with fully articulating joints—and Hugh Herr’s PowerFoot BiOM, which mimics human muscle and tendon function, showcase the field’s progress. Beyond prosthetics, biomechatronics deepens our understanding of human physiology. Collaboration with military agencies is accelerating advancements. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense are funding research to aid soldiers and veterans, further propelling the field’s growth.
Regenerative medicine focuses on repairing, replacing, or regenerating human cells, tissues, or organs to restore healthy function. This groundbreaking field aims to activate the body's natural healing processes to fix tissues and organs once considered beyond repair.A key aspect involves lab-grown tissues and organs for implantation when natural healing fails. By using a patient's own cells as the source, this approach avoids the risk of transplant rejection and could solve the critical shortage of donor organs. Many regenerative therapies utilize stem cells, showcasing the field's potential to revolutionize medical treatment. Advancements in gene editing and gene therapy hold promise for disease prevention by addressing genetic factors associated with certain conditions.
Human genetic enhancement (or human genetic engineering) involves modifying human DNA to improve physical or mental traits. This technology could be used to treat diseases (gene therapy), prevent genetic disorders (similar to vaccines), boost athletic performance (gene doping), or even enhance appearance, metabolism, strength, and cognitive abilities like memory and intelligence. Some genetic modifications may be passed down to future generations—a possibility that has sparked significant ethical debate among scientists. Techniques like CRISPR-Cas9 offer the potential to correct genetic mutations associated with hereditary diseases, thereby preventing their manifestation in future generations and reducing disease burden.
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Senolytics are a class of experimental compounds being studied for their ability to selectively eliminate senescent cells—dysfunctional cells that accumulate with age. Senescent cells stop dividing but resist death, secreting harmful chemicals that damage nearby tissues. Senolytics trigger apoptosis (programmed cell death) in these cells while sparing healthy ones. Senolytics may delay, prevent, or even reverse age-related conditions like arthritis, atherosclerosis, and frailty. Researchers aim to develop these molecules to potentially delay, treat, or even reverse age-related diseases. By clearing these cells, senolytics may also help rejuvenate the immune system in older people.
Stem-cell therapy is a medical treatment that uses stem cells to repair, replace, or regenerate damaged tissues and organs. Stem cells are unique because they can develop into different cell types, such as muscle, nerve, or blood cells, and have the potential to self-renew. The only FDA-approved stem-cell therapy as of 2024 is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), primarily used to treat blood disorders like leukemia and lymphoma. This involves transplanting stem cells from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood to restore healthy blood production. Researchers are also exploring stem-cell therapies for conditions like Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, and heart failure, though most applications are still experimental.
The field is both promising and controversial. While stem cells offer hope for treating incurable diseases, their use—particularly embryonic stem cells—raises ethical concerns due to their source and association with abortion debates. Other challenges include the risk of uncontrolled cell growth (tumors) and the high cost of treatments. Despite these hurdles, advancements like induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)—reprogrammed adult cells that mimic embryonic stem cells—are paving the way for ethically neutral and personalized therapies. However, unproven commercial stem-cell clinics remain a concern, as they often market unapproved and risky procedures.
Cloning is the creation of genetically identical organisms, which can occur naturally or through scientific intervention. In nature, certain species reproduce asexually through processes like parthenogenesis, where offspring develop from unfertilized eggs. In biotechnology, cloning refers to techniques that replicate cells, DNA segments, or entire organisms.
Artificial cloning, also called reproductive cloning, typically involves somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). This method combines a somatic (body) cell with an egg cell to produce an embryo. The most famous example is Dolly the sheep (1996), the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell. Another key technique is molecular cloning, used in labs to generate large quantities of identical DNA for research or medical purposes. Although many different animals have been cloned for scientific research and also for attempts at de-extinction, but human reproductive cloning is against the law. There are many ethical concerns both religious and secular about this frontier science.
Top 5 Pros of Human Cloning
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Medical Advancements – Could lead to breakthroughs in organ transplantation, regenerative medicine, and disease treatment by creating genetically matched tissues.
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Infertility Solutions – May allow infertile couples or same-sex partners to have biologically related children.
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Genetic Disease Prevention – Could eliminate hereditary disorders by replicating healthy genes.
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Scientific Research – Would enhance understanding of human development, aging, and genetics.
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Replacing Lost Loved Ones – Controversially, cloning might allow grieving parents to recreate a deceased child (though ethical concerns exist).
Top 5 Cons of Human Cloning
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Ethical & Moral Issues – Raises concerns about "playing God," identity, and the exploitation of human life.
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Health Risks – Cloned organisms often suffer from genetic abnormalities, premature aging, and high failure rates (e.g., Dolly the sheep had health problems).
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Psychological Impact – Cloned individuals may face identity crises or societal discrimination.
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Potential for Abuse – Could lead to unethical practices like human farming, designer babies, or military applications.
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Legal & Social Challenges – No clear global regulations, risking exploitation and inequality (e.g., only the wealthy accessing cloning tech).
Digital cloning refers to the creation of a virtual replica of a person using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and vast datasets like voice recordings, images, and behavioral patterns. Unlike biological cloning, which replicates physical DNA, digital cloning aims to mimic a person’s appearance, speech, mannerisms, and even decision-making processes. This technology leverages deep learning algorithms, natural language processing (NLP), and generative AI (e.g., GPT-4, deepfake tools) to produce interactive, lifelike avatars or
chatbots that can simulate human interactions. Applications range from personalized AI assistants to posthumous recreations of celebrities or loved ones.
Recent advancements in digital cloning have pushed the boundaries of realism and accessibility. Companies like DeepBrain AI and Synthesia now offer hyper-realistic AI avatars capable of mimicking human expressions and speech with startling accuracy. Breakthroughs in voice synthesis (e.g., OpenAI’s Voice Engine) enable clones to speak in a person’s exact tone and cadence from just a 15-second sample. Meanwhile, projects like "Project December" experiment with AI replicas of deceased individuals, raising ethical questions. The integration of multimodal AI (combining text, voice, and video) has further refined digital clones, allowing them to engage in real-time conversations or even star in films (e.g., the digital resurrection of James Dean for a 2024 movie).
However, digital cloning also poses significant ethical and societal challenges. Misuse of deepfakes for fraud, misinformation, or identity theft is a growing concern, prompting calls for stricter regulations. Privacy issues arise when clones are created without consent—such as AI-generated replicas of celebrities or private individuals. Additionally, psychological impacts, like emotional dependency on digital clones of lost loved ones, remain unexplored. Despite these risks, the technology holds promise for education, entertainment, and preserving human legacy, provided it’s developed responsibly with safeguards against abuse.
The manga series Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End portrays a 1000-year old elf with one regret: not getting to know her human companions better before they passed away. This is just one story in a long line of literary works exploring immortality and its consequences. Read the examples below, then discuss with your team: why is immortality such an attractive subject for storytellers? What are some common implications of immortality that they explore?
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
In this manga series, the plot follow the elven mage Frieren, who was a part of an adventuring party that vanquished the Demon King after a decade-long journey, bringing peace to the world. Alongside the human hero Himmel, dwarven warrior Eisen, and human priest Heiter, she witnessed the rare Era Meteors—a celestial event recurring every fifty years. Promising to reunite for the next meteor shower, Frieren then set off alone to explore the world and deepen her arcane wisdom. When Frieren returns after fifty years, she finds the capital transformed by time, her former comrades now aged. The group shares a final adventure to observe the meteors once more, after which Himmel passes away peacefully. At his funeral, Frieren is overcome with regret for not having sought to understand him better. Honoring Heiter’s dying wish, she takes responsibility for Fern, an orphaned girl he had raised, embarking on a new role as mentor and guardian. Immortality may mean an infinite journey to attain wisdom, but it also represents loneliness and saying goodbye to mortal friends.
Immortality might have been the goal for many famous rulers in history, but this article argues that it is not all that it is cracked up to be, even in fiction and
1) It Can Get All Gross and Stuff - For example the Guillermo del Toro film Cronos, people achieve immortality through a device invented by a medieval alchemist. Immortality usually comes with an unpleasant price of either crime, disgusting stuff or broken heart.
2) Immortality Doesn’t Equal Invulnerability - Even if you get to live forever, it comes with maintenance. You live, but your body gets more
and more damaged. The film Death Becomes Her is a prime example, with Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn walking off broken necks and shotgun blasts through the midriff after they drank the immortal elixir.
3) Finances Are a Headache - Just because you live forever, doesn't mean that money comes easy. There are a lot of other headaches with the bank too. In Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics, the immortal Hob Gadling has to periodically fake his own death and come back as his own heir.
4) All Your Friends Are Dead… - It's unhappy being the last one around.
5) Except other immortals who are jerks - Think of the legendary Flying Dutchman, a ship condemned to sail the seas until its captain finds true love.
6) There’s Nothing New on TV - Life becomes boring. In John Varley’s “Eight Worlds” stories, where everyone is functionally immortal, the most common cause of death is suicide from boredom.
7) Dating is awkward: Doctor Who never gets a love interest, because that would just lead to weirdness and heartbreak.
8) You Could Get Stuck at a Non-Fun Age - What if you are stuck at a horrible age and can't die. One example was Claudia, the prepubescent vampire “daughter” in Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, turns bitter and murderous as she realizes that she’s an intelligent, ambitious woman trapped permanently in the body of a little girl.
9) Sometimes You Just Go Crazypants - Living so long just make you lose sense of reality and sensibility. For example, in the DC Comics universe, the Lazarus Pits rejuvenate people at the cost of temporary insanity. This hasn’t stopped the Pits’ main client, supervillain Ra’s al Ghul, from using them to resurrect himself over and over.
Maybe this is why Percy Jackson turned down immortality at the end of the series. Being a hero, he knows it's not al that its cracked up to be.
Wordsworth is one of the most renowned English poets and his Ode stands as one of his most praised works. In this work, he explores the themes of childhood, the ephemeral nature of memory, the spiritual resonance of the natural world, and the soul’s celestial origins. Wordsworth’s poem argues that the human soul is everlasting and comes from heaven before our birth. Reflecting on nature and childhood memories, the poem describes "celestial light" that inspires with childlike wonder, a vision that we have lost with age. Nevertheless, the power of that image through various scenes of nature echos the dazzling vision that he once experienced and even simple objects, like a little flower gives him inspiration and fills him with awe.
"Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.“
"Tithonus" is a poem by the Victorian poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92), originally written in 1833 as "Tithon" and completed in 1859. It first appeared in the February edition of the Cornhill Magazine in 1860. Faced with old age, Tithonus, weary of his immortality, yearns for death. The poem is a dramatic monologue with Tithonus addressing his consort Eos, the goddess of the dawn.
In Greek myths, Tithonus was a prince of Troy, son of King Laomedon and a river nymph named Strymo (meaning "harsh"). The dawn goddess Eos kidnapped two Trojan princes - both Tithonus and Ganymede - to be her lovers. When Zeus took Ganymede away to serve as his personal cup-bearer, Eos asked for Tithonus to live forever as compensation. But she made a big mistake - while she asked for immortality, she forgot to ask for eternal youth to go with it.
The poem begins with Tithonus speaking to Eos (the dawn goddess) at their home at "the quiet edge of the world" (7). Now extremely old and weak, he thinks deeply about death and sadly wishes he could die to end his suffering. He remembers how proud he felt when Eos chose him as her lover - it made him feel like a god (14). Though she granted his wish for eternal life, she didn't stop him from aging. Time has destroyed his body: "the relentless Hours worked their will / And broke me down and ruined me" (18-19). He begs Eos, "Let me go; take back your gift" (27), questioning why anyone would want something they can't truly have.
At sunrise, Eos leaves without answering his plea to end his immortality. Her tears make Tithonus realize the terrible truth that "even Gods can't take back their gifts" (49). He remembers his youth when Eos' kisses and "wild, sweet words" (61) made him feel alive - like the magical music Apollo played while Troy was being built. In the end, tired of living forever, Tithonus longs for death. He believes people who can die are lucky (70). Knowing his "never-ending old age" (22) doesn't match Eos' "eternal youth" (22), he begs her once more to free him.
Mary Shelley was an English Romantic writer who is most famous for her science-fiction horror novel Frankenstein. "The Mortal Immortal" is a short Gothic tale that examines the curses of eternal life. The story follows Winzy, a young alchemist’s assistant who accidentally drinks an elixir of immortality meant for his master, Cornelius Agrippa. Though initially joyous, Winzy soon realizes his immortality is a torment: he watches his beloved wife, Bertha, grow old and die while he remains unchanged. Set against a backdrop of early 19th-century scientific curiosity, the story critiques the Romantic era’s fascination with transcending human limits, much like Frankenstein.
The story begins with: "July 16, 1833.--This is a memorable anniversary for me; on it I complete my three hundred and twenty-third year!...I will tell my story, and so contrive to pass some few hours of a long eternity, become so wearisome to me. For ever!" It has been 323 years and eternity begins to feel like a burden instead of a blessing. He goes on to explain his youth and his childhood romance with a girl from their town called Bertha. Winzy and Bertha love each other, but they are plagued with poverty and cannot move up in society. An orphan, Bertha was adopted by with an elderly, childless protectress who lived in a castle and who was wealthy. Soon Bertha was sought after by rich young men and this agitated Winzy. "Jealousy, with all its venom and all its misery, entered my breast. Now I shed a torrent of tears, to think that I should never call her mine; and, anon, I imprecated a thousand curses on her inconstancy." Instead of spending time with Bertha, Winzy was trapped taking care of Cornelius a well-known alchemist who had fallen on hard times. He was making some kind of secret formula and he said,
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"Not ready yet," he murmured; "will another night pass before the work is accomplished? Winzy, you are vigilant--you are faithful--you have slept, my boy--you slept last night. Look at that glass vessel. The liquid it contains is of a soft rose-colour: the moment it begins to change hue, awaken me--till then I may close my eyes. First, it will turn white, and then emit golden flashes; but wait not till then; when the rose-colour fades, rouse me." I scarcely heard the last words, muttered, as they were, in sleep. Even then he did not quite yield to nature. "Winzy, my boy," he again said, "do not touch the vessel--do not put it to your lips; it is a philtre--a philtre to cure love; you would not cease to love your Bertha--beware to drink!"
Of course, filled with ambition and indignation at life's unfairness, Winzy consumes the elixir. The elixir symbolizes reckless scientific ambition (a theme in Frankenstein). Cornelius Agrippa’s failed experiment mirrors Victor Frankenstein’s hubris, suggesting that tampering with natural laws leads to despair. "It will cure me of love--of torture!" Already I had quaffed half of the most delicious liquor ever tasted by the palate of man, when the philosopher stirred. I started--I dropped the glass--the fluid flamed and glanced along the floor, while I felt Cornelius's gripe at my throat, as he shrieked aloud, "Wretch! you have destroyed the labour of my life!" Winzy was filled with courage and went straight to Bertha and took her away from her protectress and married her. He lived happily and was grateful for the elixir's powers, until he realized it from Cornelius' lips that it was not an elixir for love, but "A cure for love and for all things--the Elixir of Immortality. Ah! if now I might drink, I should live for ever!
Finally, the elixir transformed from a blessing to a curse, as "I was troubled. I looked at the faded beauty of Bertha--I seemed more like her son. By degrees our neighbors began to make similar observations, and I found at last that I went by the name of the Scholar bewitched....At last our situation became intolerable: Bertha was fifty--I twenty years of age." And, that was not all, his finances suffered because he became an outcast of society. They finally had to leave their native village and ran way so they could live in peace. He took care of Bertha for many years until his death and then became alone. At the end of the story, Winzy finally feels lost in the world sets out to find a way to test his immortality and hope that his knowledge would benefit the entire human species. "I yield this body, too tenacious a cage for a soul which thirsts for freedom, to the destructive elements of air and water; or, if I survive, my name shall be recorded as one of the most famous among the sons of men; and, my task achieved, I shall adopt more resolute means, and, by scattering and annihilating the atoms that compose my frame, set at liberty the life imprisoned within, and so cruelly prevented from soaring from this dim earth to a sphere more congenial to its immortal essence."
Every year WSC has something from Bradbury and it's great! Bradbury might be most famous for his science fiction or dystopian stories about technology (Fahrenheit 451, The Veldt), this one is about immortality and its burden. The story's protagonist is a seemingly young 12 year old boy name Willie who is packing his bags and getting ready to leave home. He is immortal and has been trapped in his juvenile body for so long, that to survive in society, he wanders from town to town every few years and gets adopted. He can't grow up and he has to act like a kid to gain acceptance. In the story, he is saying goodbye to his current adoptive parents Anna and Steve who knows his secret but can't do anything to prevent him from leaving.
"It's been a great. pleasure: and satisfaction," said Steve, sitting there, his words the. wrong size in his mouth. "It's a shame it had to stop. It's a shame you had to tell us about yourself. It's an awful shame that you can't say on." "You're the nicest folks I ever had," said Willie, four feet high; in no need of a shave, the sunlight on his face." One of the few people that knows his secret is elderly Mrs. Emily Robinson, who references the Wordsworth's famous poem daffodil and thinks that it might be wonderful to have that youthful eagerness, yet Willie explains that staying youthful is not simple. He is rejected from circuses who only want real midgets, and can't act in a mature way that reveals his true age. He realized that "There was work for me, after all. Making lonely people happy. Keeping myself busy. Playing forever. I knew I had,to play forever. Deliver a few papers, run a few errands, mow a few lawns, maybe. But hard work? No. All I had to do was be a' mother's son and a father's pride." He wanders America on trains and always has to put on a brave face before going into the new town.
Ursula K. Le Guin is an Amerian science fiction writer who creates fascinating characters and in this short story, the protagonist is a curious travel who is determined to find out the truth behind the Immortals. The story is set in a futuristic world, where the unnamed traveler ventures to the Yendian Plane, to a little remote island called Aya. The legend or rumors are that there are diamonds and immortals on Aya, but even with such an intriguing legend, the travel agent dismisses it as a poor tourist attraction, without even an airport. Not discouraged, the traveler goes there by boat. The story features translatomat, a futuristic device that can translate any foreign galactic language. The traveler also does research and was even more curious and anxious when nothing really substantial comes up. Nothing about the diamonds, which were supposedly very plentiful and nothing about how the people enjoyed immortality or not. The only account the traveler found was one a book from the Mainland's library called Postwand’s Explorations, which recounts the explorer's experience with horrible smelling salt marshes, the undeveloped town and a strange disease called udreb caused by flies. If it bites you, you get infected, it is like a form of leprosy and that's why the local people are covered in gauze from head to toe. Postwand sees a udreb victim that was completely disfigured and lying there like a corpse. Children were playing nearby and the locals didn't seem to care at all, despite the hygiene risk. Postwand and his crew were so shocked that they fled the island.
Still very curious and determined, the traveler persists and arrives at the island and finds its is a poor undeveloped village. Not satisfied with just staying in a simple tourist shack, the traveler finally get to the bottom of the truth. The immortals are the people who are infected by the fly and cannot die. The udreb was the immortal, which had lost many of its human senses due to natural disasters, like fire and earthquake. It is now taken care of by the local family which acts like a tour guide introducing the immortal to visitors: "You are looking at the Immortal of our village,” the woman said in the practiced singsong of the tour guide. “It has been with us for many many centuries. For over one thousand years it has belonged to the Roya family. In this family it is our duty and pride to look after the Immortal. Feeding hours are six in the morning and six in the evening. It lives on milk and barley broth. It has a good appetite and enjoys good health with no sicknesses. It does not have udreba. Its legs were lost when there was an earthquake one thousand years ago. It was also damaged by fire and other accidents before it came into the care of the Roya family. The legend of my family says that the Immortal was once a handsome young man who made his living for many lifetimes of normal people by hunting in the marshes. This was two or three thousand years ago, it is believed. The Immortal cannot hear what you say or see you, but is glad to accept your prayers for its wellbeing and any offerings for its support, as it is entirely dependent on the Roya family for food and shelter. Thank you very much. I will answer questions.”
Shocked the tourist finds out that the diamonds buried are the immortals who suffer through pain and hunger for thousands of year and the carbon in the body becomes diamond, which is also pure carbon. The tourist asks if the lady is afraid of her children becoming an immortal and bitten by the flies, as they are not wearing the gauze and she answers in a mysterious way, "“There’s only one.” The tourist realizes it means there is only one special immortal fly with the ability to infect people with the disease of immortality.
In 2002, researchers in the United States were able to reconstruct the polio virus from scratch—from materials they ordered in the mail. Explore the emerging field of synthetic biology, then discuss with your team: how might advances in this field help you and your loved ones in the future? What does it mean to synthesize a thing, versus simply to make it? And what future applications of synthetic biology can you imagine existing outside the human body?
The World Health Organisation is mounting a campaign to eradicate the wild polio virus from the world by 2005. Last month Europe was officially declared free of the disease, but in 2002, researchers at the State University of New York built a synthetic version of the polio virus so like the real thing that it infected mice and made them ill. This makes it very alarming as viruses could be used in bio-warfare.
For decades, it has been theoretically understood that all that was required to synthesise a virus was to turn the written version of its DNA or RNA code into real, chemical DNA or RNA. Now, someone has done it. Written down, the genetic code for polio is only 7,741 letters long.
Even so, it took Jeronimo Cello, Aniko Paul and Echkard Wimmer two years to put it together chemically using short stretches of DNA ordered from private companies that make them. Smallpox is much longer and more complicated. Written down, it would run to 185,000 letters, about as many as a small book. But Vadim Agol, a virologist at the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in Moscow, told Science: "In principle, yes, it's possible to synthesise smallpox." Don't worry, to synthesize humans it would take round 3 billion letters.
Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary field that combines principles from biology, engineering, and computer science to design and construct new biological systems or redesign existing ones. It involves the creation of artificial genes, pathways, or even entire organisms with customized functions that do not exist in nature. By leveraging tools like DNA synthesis, gene editing (e.g., CRISPR), and computational modeling, scientists can
reprogram cells to perform specific tasks, such as producing medicines, breaking down pollutants, or manufacturing biofuels. The goal is to treat biology as a programmable platform, much like software, enabling precise control over biological processes.
Synthetic biology is highly useful across multiple industries. In medicine, it enables the development of engineered bacteria that produce insulin or other therapeutics, as well as advanced gene therapies for genetic disorders. In agriculture, it can create crops with enhanced resistance to pests or drought. Industrially, it allows the sustainable production of chemicals, fuels, and materials using engineered microbes instead of fossil fuels. Environmental applications include designing organisms to clean up oil spills or capture carbon dioxide. By providing efficient, scalable, and often eco-friendly solutions, synthetic biology has the potential to revolutionize healthcare, manufacturing, and environmental sustainability.
Two possible examples of synthetic biology.
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Fighting Malaria with Engineered Yeast – Scientists modified yeast cells to produce a malaria medicine called artemisinin. Normally, this drug comes from plants and is expensive to make. But by adding plant genes to yeast, they created a faster and cheaper way to make the medicine, helping save lives in areas where malaria is common.
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Meat Made Without Animals – Companies are now growing real meat in labs using animal cells instead of raising and slaughtering livestock. By feeding these cells nutrients in a bioreactor (like a high-tech lab tank), they can produce burgers, chicken, and more—without harming animals or causing as much pollution as traditional farming.
For scientists interested in studying living organisms, they can turn to the UK’s National Collection of Type Cultures, a repository of century-old bacteria samples. Meanwhile, the thawing permafrost in the arctic is exposing pre-historical pathogens—a boon for adventurous virologists but one that raises the concerning possibility of transmission to modern-day humans. Explore with your team: why are so many of these efforts taking place in the arctic?
Starting with its very first bacteria sample in WWI, collected from Private Ernest Cable who had Shigella flexneri (dysentery), the National Collection of Typle Cultures (NCTC) has been serving as the world's oldest library for bacteria for more than 100 years.
Housed at a large site of UK Health Security Agency, it supports scientists globally studying infectious diseases. The collection was formally established on January 1, 1920 and was originally located at the Lister institute of Preventative Medicine in Chelsea. Its first 200 cultures — including Private Cable’s — were deposited by Sir Frederick William Andrewes, a pathologist who studied dysentery throughout World War I.
During World War II, the Lister Institute was bombed, but luckily, its bacterial collection had already been moved to a farmhouse near London for safekeeping. Today, the NCTC (National Collection of Type Cultures) holds around 6,000 bacterial strains from over 900 species. These bacteria help scientists develop vaccines, discover new drugs, and ensure medical tests are accurate worldwide. Some are harmful, some are helpful, and many are used to diagnose diseases.
One of the most famous strains is NCTC 6571, the Oxford Staphylococcus, which played a key role in developing penicillin—the first modern antibiotic. Penicillin was created in the late 1930s and early 1940s by a team at Oxford University, including Alexander Fleming. Back then, scientists shipped live bacteria on agar made from egg yolks, sealed with paraffin wax—a risky method that could infect handlers. Since 1940, the NCTC has used freeze-drying to preserve strains, a technique still in use today.
A major breakthrough happened between 2013 and 2018, when the NCTC and the Wellcome Sanger Institute sequenced the full genomes of over 3,000 strains. Genome sequencing reveals an organism’s complete DNA, helping researchers study these bacteria in incredible detail.
Thawing can be unprecedentedly dangerous, with the potential to release archaic virus, radioactive wste and more. “There’s a lot going on with the permafrost that is of concern, and (it) really shows why it’s super important that we keep as much of the permafrost frozen as possible,” said Kimberley Miner, a climate scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.
For the last 1000 years, permafrost has covered more than 1/5 of the Northern Hemisphere including, the Arctic tundra and boreal forests of Alaska, Canada and Russia. Because of its cold climate, it is a great place to store things including woolly mammoth, woolly rhino, lion cubs and viruses from the past. However, current day Arctic temperatures are warming up to four times faster than the rest of the planet, weakening the top layer of permafrost in the region.
To better understand the risks posed by frozen viruses, Jean-Michel Claverie, an Emeritus professor of medicine and genomics at the Aix-Marseille University School of Medicine in Marseille, France, has tested earth samples taken from Siberian permafrost to see whether any viral particles contained therein are still infectious. He’s in search of what he describes as “zombie viruses” — and he has found some.
Claverie studies a particular type of virus he first discovered in 2003. Known as giant viruses, they are much bigger than the typical variety and visible under a regular light microscope, rather than a more powerful electron microscope — which makes them a good model for this type of lab work. His efforts to detect viruses frozen in permafrost were partly inspired by a team of Russian scientists who in 2012 revived a wildflower from a 30,000-year-old seed tissue found in a squirrel’s burrow.
In 2014, he managed to revive a virus he and his team isolated from the permafrost, making it infectious for the first time in 30,000 years by inserting it into cultured cells. For safety, he’d chosen to study a virus that could only target single-celled amoebas, not animals or humans. Those latest strains represent five new families of viruses, on top of the two he had revived previously. The oldest was almost 48,500 years old,
based on radiocarbon dating of the soil, and came from a sample of earth taken from an underground lake 16 meters (52 feet) below the surface. The youngest samples, found in the stomach contents and coat of a woolly mammoth’s remains, were 27,000 years old.
So, could these ancient virus come back and cause an apocalypse? A lung sample from a woman’s body exhumed in 1997 from permafrost in a village on the Seward Peninsula of Alaska contained genomic material from the influenza strain responsible for the 1918 pandemic. In 2012, scientists confirmed the 300-year-old mummified remains of a woman buried in Siberia contained the genetic signatures of the virus that causes smallpox. An anthrax outbreak in Siberia that affected dozens of humans and more than 2,000 reindeer between July and August in 2016 has also been linked to the deeper thawing of the permafrost during exceptionally hot summers, allowing old spores of Bacillus anthracis to resurface from old burial grounds or animal carcasses.
Climate scientist Kimberley Miner of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory cautions that many of these ancient viruses are completely unknown to science and could interact unpredictably with modern environments. She refers to such organisms as "Methuselah microorganisms"—microbes whose survival could reintroduce long-extinct ecological dynamics. Their presence might alter soil chemistry, disrupt plant life, or even spark new evolutionary interactions, compounding the already complex impacts of climate change. "We're really unclear as to how these microbes are going to interact with the modern environment," Miner says. "It's not really an experiment that I think any of us want to run."
“You must remember our immune defense has been developed in close contact with microbiological surroundings,” said Evengård, who is part of the CLINF Nordic Centre of Excellence. “If there is a virus hidden in the permafrost that we have not been in contact with for thousands of years, it might be that our immune defense is not sufficient,” she said. “It is correct to have respect for the situation and be proactive and not just reactive. And the way to fight fear is to have knowledge.” Even though it is still improbably, as thawing accelerates, its chances increase.
For scientists interested in studying living organisms, they can turn to the UK’s National Collection of Type Cultures, a repository of century-old bacteria samples. Meanwhile, the thawing permafrost in the arctic is exposing pre-historical pathogens—a boon for adventurous virologists but one that raises the concerning possibility of transmission to modern-day humans. Explore with your team: why are so many of these efforts taking place in the arctic?
Take a flight to Longyearbyen, Norway, near the Arctic circle and you are headed towards the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. It is a series of rooms carved into the permafrost, with an entrance like a concrete prow rising out of the hill. NordGen, the Nordic government group that administers deposits to the vault, generally opens this door 3 times a year. It is located only 800 miles from the North Pole, hidden in a fjord in the Svalbard archipelago. the town was founded in 1906 by a Boston coal prospector, John Munro Longyear’s Arctic Coal Company. There are many different types of precious minerals there and it still ships out coal.
In 1984, the Nordic gene bank began to experiment with storing seeds in a disused coal mine in Svalbard. Gene banks collect and preserve seeds for use in research, crop breeding, and conservation, drying them and putting them in cold storage, where they can last a surprisingly long time. In case there is an existential disaster, this place will have the seeds for human kind to regrown our world. In 2008, it was open to scientists and researchers from around the world and jointly managed by the nonprofit Global Crop Diversity Trust, the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and NordGen.
The irony is that Svalbard is warming six or seven times faster than almost anywhere else on the planet. Melting permafrost seeped into the vault’s entryway in 2016, which necessitated a redesign of
that part of the facility. The seeds are not only those of common crops. Seeds of the Cherokee Nation now lie in the vault, heirloom beans, corn, and squash. British wildflowers, from a meadow in Gloucestershire, are there in the dark. Rice of a kind that escaped slaves once wove into their hair in Suriname so that their people, hiding in the mountains, would have something to grow, should arrive soon, if all goes well. Austronesian peoples from Taiwan are sending seeds there. Some 170 samples of millet from their fields will go in through the door.
When asking the facilitator Asdal what is his favorite plant he answers: Angelica. One story tells of a Norwegian king who tried to calm his angry wife with a tender stick of angelica. The Vikings carried it with them to Greenland. Asdal says he has been to the farm of Erik the Red, who landed in Greenland a thousand years ago and the Angelica still grows there. The secure facility now holds over one million seed samples, offering hope that if all other existence of a crop is wiped out, a final backup will still be available.All the different seeds coming from minorities and smaller research centers are sent to the center, organize, X-rayed and then Svalbard managers take it into the anteroom. Nobody is allowed in, lest one of us secretly wish the seeds ill. As seed pilgrims return down the road, Asdal and Kollberg go back to the prow, enter into the darkness.
If there is a catastrophe that destroys mankind, what about our snacks? The Global Oreo Vault is just down the road from the famed Svaldbard Global Seed Vault in Norway. With that in mind, Oreo grabbed some land right down the road from the Svaldbard Global Seed Vault and built its own Global Oreo Vault. Bring on the apocalypse. The center's coordinates are in the image on the right.
"As an added precaution, the Oreo packs are wrapped in mylar, which can withstand temperatures from -80 degrees to 300
degrees Fahrenheit and is impervious to chemical reactions, moisture and air, keeping the cookies fresh and protected for years to come," Oreo announced. Even though the formula and some Oreo packs will survive, what about milk?