Giant Viruses in Siberia?

A group of french scientists are working on reanimating a prehistoric virus from underground deep within Siberia, a giant virus from almost 30,000 years ago!

The virus, known as Mollivirus sibericum, is a giant virus.  The average size of a normal virus is about 250–400 nm, while Mollivirus sibericum measures about over half of a micron.  Now to us, this doesn't seem very big.  When looking under a light microscope (microscopes found in everyday labs), you can't really see any viruses.  But with these giant viruses, you actually can see them through a light microscope using a high powered lens.

Now the nature of this virus is unknown.  We don't exactly know what it will do to us humans, animals, or plants quite yet.  And don't worry, as the article states, they will only reanimate the virus if they are absolutely sure that the virus won't harm animals or humans.  The article and links to the research papers and data can be found here:

http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-are-reawakening-a-giant-virus-frozen-in-the-siberian-wilderness

It will be interesting to see what these giant prehistoric viruses do and how they interact with our world now.  As more and more companies and groups of researchers dive deeper into the ice to tap into mineral deposits, many interesting microorganisms, some from long ago, could be discovered.  The risks of that, however, should be kept in mind.  As Jean-Michel Claverie said when she talked to Science Alert, "If we are not careful, and we industrialise these areas without putting safeguards in place, we run the risk of one day waking up viruses such as small pox that we thought were eradicated.”