Scandinavian scientists a step closer to resurrecting the extinct Tasmanian tiger

The scientists sequenced a strand of RNA from a 130-year-old thylacine specimen preserved at the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, Tasmania.

Transcript

00:00 (bell dings)

00:02 (upbeat music)

00:30 - People didn't think it could really be done.

00:33 RNA is very, very transient.

00:34 So, you know, if I would take some RNA

00:36 and smear it here on the table,

00:38 it would be destroyed in a matter of minutes.

00:40 (upbeat music)

00:59 We hope to advocate that these researchers

01:03 not only focus on the DNA,

01:04 but also try to get more knowledge

01:07 on how these animals were when they were alive

01:09 by just studying the RNA,

01:12 which gives you not only the book of the recipes

01:17 that formed these living organisms,

01:21 but allows you to go to the cell, to the tissues,

01:24 and see how they were really working when they were alive.

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