Discovering Ancient Microorganisms Inside Swiss Glaciers


(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Melting glaciers caused by global warming release largely unknown bacteria and viruses into the environment. These microorganisms could help to tackle some major global problems, from plastic pollution to antibiotic resistance.

This content was published on January 29, 2025 - 08:20 1 minute Céline Stegmüller , Michele Andina , Luigi Jorio

A research team from the Swiss federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL)External LINK is looking for these microorganisms for the first time in Swiss glaciers. We accompanied the team at work on the Rhône glacier to see how meltwater is filtered with a device they specifically developed for this environment. And we visited their laboratory near Zurich to find out what happened with the material they collected on the glacier.

External Content More More Secrets revealed by melting Swiss glaciers could eat plastic and cure disease

This content was published on Jan 5, 2025 Even though 2024 was another bad year for Alpine glaciers, their melting may release microorganisms potentially useful to medicine and industry.

Read more: Secrets revealed by melting Swiss glaciers could eat plastic and cure disease

MENAFN30012025000210011054ID1109146647


Swissinfo

Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.