Scientists discovered that some microbes on Ötzi the Iceman's 5,300-year-old mummy remain alive and may still be multiplying.
New DNA analysis found ancient fungi from the Alps colonized his corpse and stayed dormant but viable for millennia.
Researchers found that Ötzi's gut contained ancient bacteria extremely rare in modern industrialized populations but still present in traditional societies.
AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.
Ötzi the Iceman, the well-preserved and well-studied mummy of a man who died 5,300 years ago, is a “dynamic ecosystem” of microbes, some of which have stayed viable for millennia, according to new research.
