Science Saturday: Ancient DNA, black hole and pig kidney transplant

Woolly mammoth genome

A new way of looking at ancient DNA samples! Scientists have built the first 3D genome of an extinct animal by using a 52,000-year-old, freeze-dried woolly mammoth.

The mammoth was discovered in Siberia in 2018. Since its remains freeze-dried shortly after it died, its DNA has been preserved in a glass-like state. Scientists say the new discovery opens up several possibilities for exploring the biology of extinct species.

Black hole

Astronomers have found a rare, intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). They say a massive object seems to be pulling on seven rapidly moving stars in the core of Omega Centauri, the largest and brightest globular cluster visible in the sky.

This suggests the presence of an IMBH. Located about 18,000 light years from Earth, the IMBH is about 8,000 times more massive than the sun.

Pig kidney transplant failed

A 54-year-old woman from the U.S. state of New Jersey has died less than three months after receiving a genetically modified pig kidney. Lisa Pisano was the second person in history to receive such a transplant. She was near death from kidney and heart failure when she had the surgery in April.

Her passing comes just two months after the death of the first patient to receive such a transplant.

SpaceX Falcon 9

A U.S. Federal Aviation Administration investigation is underway into the in-flight failure of a SpaceX rocket.

Approximately an hour after it took off, the rocket's second stage, which was carrying a batch of Starlink internet satellites, failed to reignite and instead deployed the satellites in a dangerously low orbit where they ran the risk of burning up in the Earth's atmosphere.