A group of scientists led by Professor Jean-Michel Claverie and Dr. Chantal Abergel of the French University of Aix-Marseille (Aix-Marseille Université) has discovered a previously unknown virus. Called Pithovirus sibericum, it’s very special because it’s gigantic by the standards of the viruses and was revived after being hibernated in the Siberian permafrost for more than 30,000 years.