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In core samples taken from glacier ice in Tibet, a team of microbiologists discovered 33 distinct viruses dating back to the Pleistocene. They believe the viral communities were active on glacier surfaces before they were frozen. Some of them are still active within the ice cores.
The Guliya viruses discovered in the ice cap are assumed to have infected the microorganisms that lived on the same ice. The researchers aren't sure when those infections occurred-whether they were most active before the ice cap arose or only thrived after it did. Their comprehensive study of the viruses' ecology was published in the journal Microbiome recently with the title "