Climate change is turning ancient mummies into 'black ooze'

Researchers at Harvard University believe that some of the world's oldest mummies may be the latest casualty of man-made climate change.

Scientists from Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences told Bloomberg that a group of bodies mummified in Chile 7,000 years ago are deteriorating, and climate change is to blame.

Harvard's Ralph Mitchell explained that microbes that thrive in human climates are turning the bodies, which are the remains of Chinchorro hunter-gatherers, into "black ooze." And the deterioration process has accelerated over the last 10 years.

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"Is there a scientific answer to protect these important historic objects from the devastating effects of climate change?" Mitchell said to Bloomberg. "It's almost a forensic problem."