GENETIC SEQUENCING

Nov 15 2025SCIENCE

Unlocking Secrets: How a 40, 000-Year-Old Mammoth's RNA Tells Its Story

A young mammoth named Yuka died 40, 000 years ago in Siberia. Its body was frozen in the permafrost, keeping it well-preserved. Scientists recently studied Yuka's leg tissue and found something amazing: RNA, the oldest ever sequenced. RNA is like a messenger in cells. It tells them what to do based on the instructions in DNA. By studying Yuka's RNA, scientists could...

reading time about 1 minute
Jun 07 2025CRIME

The Truth About Genetic Evidence in Forensic Cases

Forensic science is getting a boost from new sequencing technology. This tech lets scientists get genetic info from tough samples. One new tool, IBDGem, looks at sequencing data, even from low-quality samples, to figure out if a DNA match is likely. But here is where things get tricky. IBDGem checks if the sample comes from someone in a reference database. This is no...

reading time about 1 minute
May 19 2025SCIENCE

How a Desert Plant Survives Drought

Artemisia sphaerocephala is a key player in stopping deserts from spreading. This plant is tough and can handle dry conditions. To figure out how it does this, researchers used advanced sequencing methods. They looked at the plant's genes and how they change when it's really dry. This helps find out which genes and paths are crucial for the plant's survival. The stu...

reading time about 1 minute