Russian scientists plan to unlock 50,000 year old prehistoric viruses - by extracting them from carcasses of ancient animals frozen in permafrost.
Kremlin experts are this week taking samples from a collection of beasts preserved in ice which have been found in recent years.
The scientists are working with the remains of extinct woolly mammoths and hairy rhinos, as well as prehistoric dogs, horses, elk, rodents and hares.
One of the oldest animals is believed to be a 50,000 year old lemming. The work is spearheaded by Vector State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology - once a Cold War biological warfare research plant established by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
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