One of the risks of global warming and the melting of the permafrost is that ancient microbes can be released into the environment. In a recent paper, the authors demonstrated that live, ancient viruses could be recovered from the Siberian permafrost. Naturally, these viruses present risks and need to be monitored. Recent research on examines how microbes in our environment can colonize our gut, and how infants influence the process. For more information on applications of Illumina technology in the field of Microbial Genomics, please visit us at Illumina: Microbial Genomics. http://www.illumina.com/applications/microbiology.ilmn Products: Genome AnalyzerIIx: http://support.illumina.com/sequencing/sequencing_instruments/genome_analyzer_iix.html HiSeq: http://systems.illumina.com/systems/hiseq_2500_1500.ilmn Publications: PMID 24591590 | Legendre M., et al. (2014): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24591590 PMID 24637181 | Konya T., et al. (2014) : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24637181 Reviews: Virus Detection and Research: http://www.illumina.com/documents/products/research_reviews/viral_detection_research_review.pdf Metagenomics 2nd Edition: http://www.illumina.com/documents/products/research_reviews/metagenomics_research_review.pdf The Science Mondays (SciMon) series is brought to you by Illumina http://www.illumina.com/ Illumina hosts Swati Kadam, Ph.D., Scientific Liaison, Scientific Affairs and Jacques Retief, Associate Director Scientific Affairs deliver 7 minutes of scientific enlightenment on the latest discoveries.