One of the challenges of working with ancient DNA samples is that damage accumulates over time, breaking the double-helix structure into smaller and smaller fragments. In the samples we have worked with, these fragments spread out and mix with contaminants, making reconstructing a genome a major technical challenge. But a dramatic paper published Thursday shows … Read more
Corner down icon An icon in the shape of a downward-pointing corner. Locals discovered this mummified wolf in the thawing permafrost in Siberia. Northeastern Federal University Researchers are studying a 44,000-year-old mummified wolf found in the permafrost in Russia. The wolf may be able to tell scientists about its lifestyle and diet during the Pleistocene. … Read more
Jupiter’s moon Europa was captured by the JunoCam instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during the mission’s short flight on September 29, 2022. The images show the fractures, ridges and bands that criss-cross the moon’s surface. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI /MSSS, Björn Jónsson (CC BY 3.0) NASA‘s Juno has provided images supporting the theory of true polar wandering … Read more