Scientists have discovered ancient fossil chromosomes preserved in a glass-like state in the skin of a 52,000-year-old female woolly mammoth that died near the Indigirka River in Siberia. While fragmentary wooly mammoth DNA has been extracted before, this is the first time that working chromosomes have been identified. It offers a treasure trove of genetic data on the colossal mammal, which some researchers are working to bring back from extinction. “We’ve known that tiny fragments of ancient DNA can survive for long periods of time,” said Dr. Marcela Sandoval-Velasco of the University of Cope…
