WSC 2025 Challenge 181-190

What did Jean-Michel Claverie test to see if viral particles were still infectious?

• Air samples from the Arctic tundra

• Earth samples from Siberian permafrost

• Water samples from an underground lake

• Blood samples from a woolly mammoth

What type of virus does Jean-Michel Claverie study for his lab work?

• Archaic viruses

• Single-celled amoebas

• Giant viruses

• Influenza strains

How old was the oldest virus Claverie and his team revived from permafrost?

• 27,000 years old

• 30,000 years old

• 48,500 years old

• 1,000 years old

What happened between 2013 and 2018 with the NCTC and the Wellcome Sanger Institute?

• They discovered a new type of 'zombie' virus.

• They revived a wildflower from a 30,000-year-old seed.

• They sequenced the full genomes of over 3,000 strains.

• They linked an anthrax outbreak to thawing permafrost.

What is the name of the 'zombie' virus that was isolated from a 30,000-year-old permafrost sample in 2014?

• Pithovirus sibericum

• Bacillus anthracis

• Influenza strain H1N1

• Smallpox virus

What can thawing permafrost potentially release?

• Ancient wildflowers and plant seeds

• Only new, unknown bacteria

• Archaic viruses, radioactive waste, and more

• Woolly mammoth carcasses and lion cubs

What has been a concern about the permafrost that climate scientist Kimberley Miner highlights?

• Its role in storing ancient seeds

• Its potential to cause a new ice age

• The fact that it's weakening the Arctic's top layer

• Why it's important to keep as much of it frozen as possible

What was found in a lung sample from a woman exhumed from permafrost in Alaska in 1997?

• The smallpox virus

• The genetic signatures of a 300-year-old woman

• The influenza strain from the 1918 pandemic

• An anthrax spore

What caused an anthrax outbreak in Siberia between July and August 2016?

• Thawing permafrost during exceptionally hot summers

• Contact with a 'zombie' virus

• The spread of Bacillus anthracis from old burial grounds

• A new strain of Bacillus anthracis from an animal carcass

What does climate scientist Kimberley Miner call the ancient microorganisms that could be released from permafrost?

• Giant viruses

• Zombie viruses

• Methuselah microorganisms

• Permafrost pathogens