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In 2025 scientists recovered the oldest RNA yet recorded from a woolly mammoth frozen about 40,000 years ago.

Stockholm University (2025)

ScienceNature

Why it matters

The idea in context

DNA is a creature's instruction book; RNA is a snapshot of which instructions were actually being used when it died. Reading it from a juvenile Siberian mammoth showed which genes were switched on in its muscles, and even hinted at stress in its final hours. RNA is far more delicate than DNA, so many had assumed it could never survive tens of thousands of years.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

2025'te bilim insanları, yaklaşık 40.000 yıl önce donmuş bir yünlü mamuttan bugüne dek kaydedilmiş en eski RNA'yı elde etti.
Stockholm Üniversitesi (2025)

DNA bir canlının talimat kitabıdır; RNA ise öldüğünde hangi talimatların gerçekten kullanıldığının anlık görüntüsüdür. Onu genç bir Sibirya mamutundan okumak, kaslarında hangi genlerin açık olduğunu gösterdi ve hatta son saatlerindeki strese işaret etti. RNA, DNA'dan çok daha naziktir; bu yüzden çoğu kişi on binlerce yıl dayanamayacağını sanıyordu.

Source trail

Read beyond the card.

Background reading: Woolly mammothAttribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.
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