Mammoth mummies up to 50,000 years old yield oldest RNA yet found

Researchers have found the oldest RNA molecules to date in mummified woolly mammoth tissue. RNA is a fragile molecule, which makes intact ancient samples few and far between. But such samples are sought after because analysing ancient RNA could shed light on the gene activity of extinct animals. Scientists used enzymes to convert RNA in the mammoth tissue to DNA, and then reverse-engineered the original RNA sequences. This technique recovered fragments of RNA from three samples, dated to between 39,000 and 52,000 years old.