Oldest sequenced RNA reveals details about a mammoth’s final moments 40,000 years

Yuka, a mummified mammoth unearthed from Siberian permafrost, is on display, with ice to keep the specimen frozen. Valeri Plotnikov

Scientists have recovered ancient molecules of RNA from a juvenile mammoth named Yuka, who died 40,000 years ago in what is now Siberia. These biological remnants are providing insight into the last moments of the extinct ice age creature’s life.

The RNA was extracted from mummified leg tissue that had been extremely well-preserved for millennia in permafrost. It is the oldest RNA to be sequenced by scientists. Now, researchers are using it to reveal which of the mammoth’s genes were active at the time of its death.

“All the cells in an organism, they have the same DNA, a brain cell or a liver cell or muscle cell. So what makes these cells different fro