WORLD'S OLDEST RNA EXTRACTED FROM ICE AGE WOOLLY MAMMOTH

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

Researchers at Stockholm University have successfully sequenced the RNA of a young woolly mammoth discovered in 2010. This allowed them to explore new information, such as which genes were active, or whether it was infected with RNA-based viruses, when it died. The ability to recover RNA gives scientists another tool to reconstruct and validate ancient genomes. It could be used to explore how gene expression differs between extinct and living species or even between individuals of the same species.