Rotifer recovering from week-long cryptobiosis in the lab. Credit: Lyubov Shmakova. For 24,000 years, tiny creatures lay dormant, entombed in the frozen depths of Siberia’s permafrost.

These microscopic creatures, known as bdelloid rotifer, were in a suspended state between life and death — until Russian scientists thawed them. As the microscopic animals “zombie” activated ...

The meiofauna are marine and freshwater organisms found ubiquitously in sediments and aquatic plants. They include the microscopic aquatic invertebrates and protists such as nematodes, tardigrades and ...

These ancient creatures, known as bdelloid rotifers, survived in a state of cryptobiosis, halting all biological activity until conditions became favorable again. Once thawed, they not only ...