Ancient microbes on Ötzi the Iceman are still growing
After 5,300 years frozen in an Alpine glacier, cold loving yeasts on the famous mummy remain metabolically active and continue to replicate.
Ötzi the Iceman is not merely a 5,300 year old mummy but a living, shifting ecosystem. While his body is kept in a specialized chamber at -6°C and 99 percent humidity to mimic the glacier where he was discovered, the microbes inhabiting his remains are not all dormant. Specifically, cold loving yeasts known as psychrophiles are metabolically active and replicating under these conservation conditions.
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