A team of russian and french scientist work together to revive giant virus.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/science/out-of-siberian-ice-a-virus-revived.html

The french/russian team resurrected a 30,000 year old giant virus out of siberian permafrost. The giant virus attacks amoebae and is about 1.5 micrometers long. The discovered by melting permafrost into a tub of amoebae until they started dying. This discovery provides hope of reviving other ancient creatures, and sheds light on the evolution of viruses.

The role of chance played a big roll in their experiments the odds of them finding a amoebae killing virus was not high. The discovery would have likely never been found had it not been for their curiosity to revive something prehistoric. many scientists are hope that like experiments for other organisms will have repeatable results. The discovery required great collaboration between two nations.