Nature frozen in time

Nature frozen in time

From The Naked Scientists Podcast by The Naked Scientists

March 31, 2026 · 29 min · Episode 1241

About this episode

This episode explores how natural archives in cold environments preserve biological materials from extinct species.

Across our planet, natural archives preserve the biological footprints of species long gone, from woolly mammoths at the macro scale, through plants and seeds, to dormant bacteria and viruses at the micro end of the spectrum. And one environment that safeguards some of this material in the best condition of all is the cold - in other words, in ice. So, this week, we're going to look at what is sitting in nature's deep freeze... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

People in this episode

Host: The Naked Scientists

Topics covered

  • natural archives
  • biological footprints
  • species extinction
  • cold environments
  • ice preservation

Keywords

  • natural archives
  • woolly mammoths
  • bacteria
  • viruses
  • ice preservation
  • species extinction

Mentioned in this episode

Products: bacteria, viruses

Places: Earth, ice

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