Study
The problem of anabiosis or latent life: history and current concept
Keilin, David
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 1959
Traces two and a half centuries of argument about organisms that appear dead and revive, from Leeuwenhoek’s rotifers onward, and proposes the term cryptobiosis for a state where metabolism is not merely slowed but undetectable.
- Studied in
- Animalia, Plantae, Bacteria
- Sample size
- historical and conceptual review
There exists a genuine state in which no metabolic activity can be measured and the organism nonetheless revives, and it is distinct from a merely very low metabolic rate.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Latent life needs its own term and its own criteria, because the interesting claim — that metabolism stops entirely — is different from the claim that it is slow.
How NatureHQ reads it
The founding record for the cryptobiosis page and the source of a distinction NatureHQ keeps insisting on: “metabolism too low to measure” and “metabolism absent” are different claims, and which one is true is still argued about. Keilin was careful about that in 1959 and much popular writing since has not been.
- Pre-dates the instrumentation that could test its central claim; “undetectable” meant undetectable in 1959.
- Historical review rather than experiment.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: The Royal SocietyPublished by the Royal Society.
doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1959.0013
Checked against Crossref on 2026-09-28, and they agree on the title, the authors and the year.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-09-03.