#50: Permafrost Microorganisms: Newly discovered species could aid U.S. military Arctic operations

#50: Permafrost Microorganisms: Newly discovered species could aid U.S. military Arctic operations

From Power of ERDC by U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)

March 17, 2026 · 37 min · Episode 50

About this episode

The episode discusses the discovery of 26 new species of microorganisms in permafrost and their potential applications for U.S. military operations in cold regions.

ERDC researchers recently discovered 26 new species of microorganisms frozen in permafrost that was approximately 40,000 years old. Studying the properties of these new species could unlock capabilities with the potential to support U.S. military operations in extreme cold regions. We discuss this discovery with Dr. Robyn Barbato, a senior research microbiologist and the leader of the soil microbiology team at the ERDC Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. Topics include how studying microorganisms and finding new species can help the U.S. Army (1:20), potential technologies or applications that could emerge from this research (4:20) and how the team made its discovery (8:00). We also talk about the unique process for extracting these samples (13:01), Barbato’s work on a U.S. Department of War community of interest that examines biotechnology (21:33) and the capabilities offered by ERDC’s ICE COLD library of permafrost microbes (29:18). Watch a video of this podcast on our website at www.PowerofERDCPodcast.org/50-permafrost-microorganisms_video . You can also see additional resources at www.PowerofERDCPodcast.org/50-permafrost-microorganisms_resources .

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