Discovering ancient microorganisms inside Swiss glaciers
Melting glaciers caused by global warming release largely unknown bacteria and viruses into the environment. These microorganisms could help to tackle some major global problems, from plastic pollution to antibiotic resistance.
A research team from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL)External link is looking for these microorganisms for the first time in Swiss glaciers. We accompanied the team at work on the Rhône glacier to see how meltwater is filtered with a device they specifically developed for this environment. And we visited their laboratory near Zurich to find out what happened with the material they collected on the glacier.
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