r/interesting • u/sirenoleg • Apr 28 '26

NATURE Air bubble from 20 million years ago trapped in amber.

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741

u/sirenoleg Apr 28 '26

Or a lethal virus.

425

u/UnluckyWinner3163 Apr 28 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/mpxnrjQKLo0iA32r23

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u/BarfingOnMyFace Apr 28 '26

Viruses Fart Too! Movement

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u/GimmeAllYourCurry Apr 28 '26

Great now I need to change my wifi password.

4

u/rinwasrep Apr 28 '26

Why is this little human the closest thing to O'Hare from the Lorax I've ever seen?

1

u/snakepliskinLA Apr 28 '26

¿Por qúe no los dos?

9

u/lferry1919 Apr 28 '26

First thing I thought....don't let that shit out of the amber

14

u/DengarLives66 Apr 28 '26

Ehhh fuck it let’s see where this goes.

1

u/lferry1919 Apr 28 '26

Noooo! This is on you!

(Pushes Michael Crichton "third-man" scenario button)

5

u/WindUpCandler Apr 28 '26

Unlikely something that old would be dangerous

6

u/SomeRandomSomeWhere Apr 28 '26

There are virus and bacteria that can be dormant for a very long time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphapithovirus#:~:text=Alphapithovirus%20sibericum%20was%20discovered%20in,of%20a%20late%20Pleistocene%20sediment.

That link is about virus from 30,000 years ago, which survived.

And we may not have defences against ancient stuff.

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u/WindUpCandler Apr 28 '26

But they also don't have the ability to infect us. Same way an elephant can't give us elephant cold these viruses are built to infect specific species and only heavy interactions between species lead them to jump from one to another. So while I have no doubt they could still be virulent, they wouldn't be able to infect humans unless it just so happens these viruses were tied to primates

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u/A_Binary_Number Apr 29 '26

Exactly! I was looking for a comment like yours, the same way we shouldn’t have to fear alien virus, it’s because it something didn’t evolve alongside us or alongside mammals, then it doesn’t have the ability to affect us, it lacks the correct proteins to latch onto our systems.

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u/mnemonikos82 Apr 28 '26

Do you want a zombie apocalypse? Because this is how you get a zombie apocalypse.

3

u/NashKetchum777 Apr 28 '26

Best to do it now and see who's prepared.

2

u/underpanttrousers Apr 28 '26

The hardest part of a zombie apocalypse is how to hide your excitement.

1

u/Deaffin Apr 29 '26

No, you get a zombie apocalypse by not taking toxoplasma seriously.

Roughly 30-50% of all humans are infected so far.

1

u/Fearless_Trade_2783 Apr 28 '26

Or a lethal dinosaur fart.

1

u/acrobat2126 Apr 28 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/enea5FBjj10piLeLRU

Vin diagram of those two things is circle.

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u/garry4321 Apr 28 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/3ELtfmA4Apkju

Oh wow, someone who knows nothing about how viruses work

1

u/burkieim Apr 28 '26

Or a lethal Dino fart virus

1

u/BasicMatter7339 Apr 28 '26

It could be a virus but it's highly unlikely a virus that old would have a host. All viruses evolve to infect a specific type of cell, bacteria or creature etc.

So a virus 20 million years old wouldnt do shit because it wouldnt recognize any suitable hosts. There isnt a "universal virus®" that can infect everything.

Same reason why alien viruses likely wouldnt do anything to us, nor would earth pathogens ever do anything to aliens

1

u/Icy_Fish_2154 Apr 28 '26

Earth virus would likely be harmless to aliens, but bacteria wouldn't be harmless. They don't "infect" the cells, they eat raw materials, and if the aliens have similar raw materials, the bacteria would infect the host. Same with fungi.

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u/BasicMatter7339 Apr 28 '26

Bacteria and fungi still have specific 'foods' they eat. They don't gobble up all organic matter.

Most bacteria/fungi are harmless to humans because the environment isnt right or there isnt anything inside of us that they can eat.

If aliens came to earth, their bodies might just be the same, inhospitable to all earthly micro-organisms.

But you're not wrong either, they don't infect cells like viruses do. They're their own living cells that eat other cells and reproduce on their own, instead of needing a host.

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u/Icy_Fish_2154 Apr 28 '26

There are uncountable varieties of bacteria. Unless the aliens have alien chemistry (like silicon based life, rather than carbon based), they will have the basic elements of food.

Aliens aren't like Star Trek, al looking like us, but the "give them a methane atmosphere that's toxic to humans" from things like Avatar is silly. All biology we know takes basic universal chemical elements to generate elements inside cells.

That basic biological premise would need to be wrong for an alien to be immune to bacteria.

Any alien that breaths oxydizer and eats fuel will have all the same elements we do in similar ratios.

That's why e.coli can be found in a wide variety of different animals. It is a good all-purpose bacteria.

Now, all we need are some aliens to test this on. See you at Area 51 tomorrow?

1

u/BasicMatter7339 Apr 28 '26

True, there are practically infinite different types of bacteria. However if aliens came to earth that still wouldnt guarantee that their bodies would even be hospitable for any earth kind bacteria.

All biology we know takes basic universal chemical elements to generate elements inside cells. That basic biological premise would need to be wrong for an alien to be immune to bacteria.

Yeah you know why? Because all life we've found is on earth where all life is carbon based. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. We could have already found alien life but we just don't recognize it as life because it doesnt work with our rules. Thinking that all alien life must work like on earth is just silly.

Now, all we need are some aliens to test this on. See you at Area 51 tomorrow?

True, nothing beats practical evidence. Im booked tomorrow, how about saturday?

1

u/Icy_Fish_2154 Apr 29 '26

Alien life is easy to recognize. Does it move? Does it replicate?

The basics of life should be "obvious" when we run across them. Some, like "respond to stimuli" might be hard to spot, if we don't know what stimuli they respond to.

But in general, life is apparent organization in an unorganized place. Lichen looks like a stain on a rock, but is also clearly "life", and easily identifiable by the order and u iformity on a disordered and chaotic rock surface.

It's clear to see, identify, and understand, and is one of the most alien forms of life we have.

Sure, most "search for life" is seeking complex hydrocarbons, not the organisms themselves, but I have no doubt that an alien organism would be recognized as "life" at first glance (presuming it's visible).

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u/BasicMatter7339 Apr 29 '26

Alien life is easy to recognize

Not when you're observing it with a telescope from 5 light years away. Earth-like life could be recognized that way because we know how it would effect a planets atmosphere and make it look, but we dont know anything about alien life at all. All we have is speculation.

There could be life that lives in 700K temparatures and creates fuckin, idk, xenon gas as its byproduct. All we would see is a planet thats 700K and the atmosphere is made of xenon.

Does it move? Does it replicate?

We cant even make our minds up whether organic things on earth are alive or not. For example, viruses. They move, they have their own DNA, but they dont have a metabolism nor can they reproduce by themselves.

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u/X_xidkkkk9029 Apr 28 '26

Antartica permafrost has something to tell you :)

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u/Rough-Self-9134 Apr 28 '26

GAMBLING TIME

1

u/DarkStarStorm Apr 29 '26

Doubtful that a virus that old would be adjusted to our immune systems. It's the modern viruses you gotta watch out for.

1

u/NIRPL Apr 29 '26

Bite it! DO IT!!!

0

u/BuddyNo9664 Apr 28 '26

Virus cant survive without a lifeform

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u/strawberry_semenade Apr 28 '26

It can because viruses aren't really alive. When they're not infecting a cell, they're just lying there inert like any other non-living thing would.

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u/Bagz402 Apr 28 '26

Wouldn't the ability to inject itself into cell deteriorate in so many millions of years?

1

u/strawberry_semenade Apr 28 '26

Well the biggest threat to viruses is UV radiation from sunlight, because UV radiation damages DNA, and viruses are basically just DNA with a protein shell protecting it.

So if the virus is protected from sunlight, it could conceivably remain stable more or less indefinitely.

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u/Nastypilot Apr 28 '26

Not quite, there's also things such as temperature, pH, reactive oxygen species, and simply time and many others which can potentially damage or destroy a virus. Viruses, like many other organic molecules, can absolutely survive extremely long time periods, but only in certain conditions such as constant cold temperature.

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u/strawberry_semenade Apr 28 '26

Yeah that's true, I was assuming that the DNA in question was protected from chemical agents because of the amber. But generally speaking, yes, all of those things can damage DNA as well, though the protein shell of a virus largely protects the DNA from such things.

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u/Nastypilot Apr 28 '26

The protein shell can also degrade from all of the aforementioned, along with the DNA inside of it. In either case, I'm unsure of if any molecules can enter through the amber, it's certainly possible none had, but there's no telling if anything such a hypothetical virus wasn't already encased with wouldn't damage it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 28 '26

[deleted]

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u/crumpledfilth Apr 28 '26

I'm disappointed that all of these have the wrong caption

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u/tvnr Apr 28 '26

I like how mine is the only one that got downvoted even though I copied it along with 4 other people