how does the Siberian worm getting defrosted have a negative impact on the world like the dozens of comment suggest?
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I’m absolutely no scientist, and this is more of a prompt for someone who has some expertise providing their view, but isn’t the chance of a previously extinct ‘unfrozen’, pre-historic bacteria or virus being dangerous to humans extremely unlikely?
From my understanding, a bacteria or virus being a threat to human health is not so much a question about whether humans have evolved a sufficient immune response to manage that species of bacteria/virus, but whether or not the bacteria or virus have evolved a way to effectively replicate/thrive through adaption from previous intimacy with a host (eg. humans).
Considering the relatively small number of bacteria/virus that are infectious to humans, in comparison to the many millions of different species, statistically wouldn’t the possibility of this ‘worst case’ scenario of letting loose a dangerous bacteria/virus be insignificant?
I’m looking at this from a ‘risk of human infection’ point of view, and realise there’s a much greater chance of an unfrozen bacteria/virus being dangerous to some other species. And maybe the risk is greater in relation to something that’s not a bacteria or virus.
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