Its a bit far fetched - but I am a bit worried that there is a possibility of global warming bringing about the extinction of mankind by releasing the unknown. Unless of course someone knows better...
2007-10-08 16:42:12 · 15 answers · asked by Colin 2 in Environment ➔ Global Warming
I think you watch to much TV!! Man will kill man!!I'd worry more about that? If we stop killing each other there may be a chance for survival !!
2007-10-08 16:48:09 · answer #1 · answered by Polar Molar 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Interesting, and from what has been discovered, possible, but very unlikely, it seems that viruses and bacteria are very tough and many live in areas of extreme heat or cold.
Anything that is resilient to survive being frozen in ice will also be alive and well in other parts of the world, therefore we are likely to know about it.
So far global warming has not affected sufficiently those parts of the ice that have been there for millions of years anyway, the polar pack ice would be under immense pressure and unable to melt for hundreds possibly even thousands of years so anything that was frozen prior to the last ice age is unlikely to be released, and mankind was around, during the last ice age, so if it did not kill us then it will not kill us now.
Finally, core samples are drilled into the polar pack ice for hundreds of meters, this is how we know that the Antarctic was a tropical paradise at the time of the Dinosaurs, as we have been taking samples of this ice for some decades we would have discovered such bacteria and viruses decades ago.
More conerning is the spread of desease world wide due to air travel.
2007-10-09 01:24:13 · answer #2 · answered by Mike B 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It could be the earths way of purging itself from unhealthy influences generated over the last ice age (that means us)
Science lesson- Bacteria can survive in frozen temperatures for thousands of years, this is how it got to earth, on a meteor and from there it evolves and grows into much of what we see today. A deadly super virus would be not impossible but humanity has survived the introduction of all bacteriological imports from outer space in its development so it is unlikely we will be wiped out
2007-10-09 00:51:07 · answer #3 · answered by Northern Spriggan 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely not. No known virus can live in that kind of cold.
Plus, sea ice is melting in the Northern Hemisphere but not in the Southern Hemisphere. Arctic Sea ice melt is related more to dynamic forcings due to regional climate than to radiative or thermal forcings from global warming. The people who claim sea ice melt is related to global warming are misinformed. Read Laxon's paper.
http://www.cpom.org/research/swl-nature.pdf
2007-10-09 08:51:28 · answer #4 · answered by Ron C 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes the ice caps on Mars are melting and the beings that develops will invade earth .
2007-10-11 05:33:58 · answer #5 · answered by Mogollon Dude 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They have found bacteria in the ice caps that are millions of years old that matabolize only what they need to maintain their DNA. They've even been able to bring the "spores" back to replication. So I suppose it could happen, yes. Viruses are less likely because they don't have the ability to maintain their DNA in anyway, leaving it suseptible for degredation.
2007-10-08 23:51:18 · answer #6 · answered by Lauren P 4 · 6⤊ 0⤋
there are several bugs out there that resist freezing temps. but I dont think we need to worry about catching anything by melting polar icecaps
2007-10-12 23:45:59 · answer #7 · answered by Aloha_Ann 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes
2007-10-09 00:41:58 · answer #8 · answered by vladoviking 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Michael Crichton should write a book about it.
If he hasn't already.
Seriously, we would be dead already if this occurs every time there's a melt.
2007-10-12 09:11:02 · answer #9 · answered by fyzer 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably not. Anything that would effect humans would have to survive and thrive at human body temperature.
2007-10-09 00:56:22 · answer #10 · answered by bestonnet_00 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋