Scientists dedicate their career to clarifying the mysteries of life. Some investigate the space, others to the depths of the seas and some more go into the weeds of the forests or in archaeological excavations.

While all these investigations have yielded surprising discoveries, it seems they should pay a little more attention to glaciers.

An international team of researchers successfully revived two species of worms that were frozen in a glacier since the Pleistocene era, which occurred 42 thousand years ago.

The worms were discovered thanks to the melting of a permafrost (permanently frozen soil layer) in Siberia, according to an article where scientists released the results of their research.

Siberian worms represent the first evidence of multicellular organisms that come back to life, after a long lethargy in an Arctic permafrost.

The nematodes, name of the worms found, are very small. They do not exceed the millimeter in length, but they are known impressive characteristics. Some may live 1.3 kilometers below the surface of the Earth, as deep as a multicellular animal can reach.

But nematodes were not the first organisms to revive after thousands of years of freezing.

A while ago, the scientific journal Live Science reported that a group of scientists managed to identify a giant virus, which was brought back to life after spending 30 thousand years frozen. Fortunately, only amoebas are affected by this virus.

While this discovery gives a slight hope that it is possible to understand cryogenization, many studies are still needed to determine how they did it and if there are other organisms that could replicate this procedure.