Ancient life has been resurrected from the bowels of a military tunnel that penetrates the Alaskan permafrost.

Some of the microbes thawed from these long-frozen soils have been trapped for 40,000 years. Now, they've been reawakened.

"These are not dead samples by any means," says microbiologist and geochemist Tristan Caro, a PhD student at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) during the study.

"They're still very much capable of hosting robust life that can break down organic matter and release it as carbon dioxide."

Caro and his colleagues aren't just raising the undead for the thrill of it.

As our fossil fuel addiction continues to warm the world, Arctic permafrost – the frozen soil, ice, and rocks beneath nearly a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere's landmass – is mel

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