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The grasslands, glaciers and snowy peaks of the Tibetan Plateau are stunning, but the vast expanse of Central Asia is one of the harshest environments on earth.
When I traveled to the Plateau three decades ago, my head pounded, and I became sluggish due to altitude sickness.
Archaeologists have long believed that the Tibetan Plateau – more than 13,000 feet (about 4,000 meters) above sea level – was one of the last places on the planet to be settled.
But new research suggests that a mysterious ancient human species was able to thrive on the so-called roof of the earth long before Homo sapiens, our own species, arrived on the scene.
We are a family
Researchers first identified Denisovans in 2010 using DNA sequences extracted from a tiny fragment of a finger bone found in Siberia.
Now, the Baishiya Karst Cave, on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, is helping to answer many questions about who the Denisovans were.
Archaeologists have examined a jaw and rib bone found at the cave site, along with thousands of animal bone fragments found during excavations in 2018 and 2019.
The analysis sheds light on how humans managed to disappear in the ice age environment for more than 100,000 years.
Lunar update
With the return of the Chang’e-6 lunar mission on June 25, the Chinese government has something that no one else has come across – rocks and soil from the far side of the moon.
China’s National Space Administration has said it will once again share its lunar samples with scientists around the world – following the precedent set by NASA after the Apollo missions.
But a US law known as the Wolf Amendment, which prohibits NASA from using government funds for bilateral cooperation with China or its agencies without authorization from Congress or the FBI, may block US access to the examples.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told CNN this week that the federal agency was working to ensure that access to lunar soil samples would not violate the law. Results from the analysis of the samples could help scientists go back to the early days of the moon, the Earth and the solar system.
Long long ago
Take a moment to wonder what researchers have to say about the world’s oldest story. Painted on the wall of a cave in what is now known as Indonesia, it depicts three people interacting with a pig.
The research team used a new technique to date the calcium carbonate crust that formed over the art to more than 50,000 years old.
The discovery is the latest rock art to be found in the region’s fascinating limestone caves and is at least 33,000 years older than famous European Paleolithic sites such as Lascaux.
Some experts think that the paintings may be a visual complement to oral stories that have been lost over time.
Explorations
Rivers often change course as they flow. But a research team studying the Ganges, which snakes from the Himalayas through India and Bangladesh, has found evidence of something much more dramatic in the past.
From clues hidden in mud and grains of sand, scientists discovered that a powerful earthquake occurred on the river 2,500 years ago – the first time this natural phenomenon was detected.
The team found sand volcanoes – a hallmark of an earthquake-affected river bed – and a large river channel filled with mud at around the same time.
If a similar earthquake were to occur in the Ganges Delta today, more than 140 million people in the area could be affected.
Wild kingdom
Entomologist Dr. Gerard Talavera came across 10 painted lady butterflies on a beach about ten years ago in French Guiana. With torn wings and holes in them, the insects looked worn out.
Although a painted lady is a hardy long-distance traveler, with migration patterns that stretch thousands of miles, she usually travels overland so she can stop and rest.
Talavera, a senior researcher at the Barcelona Institute of Botany in Spain, suspected that the butterflies had crossed the Atlantic Ocean without stopping. In a new study, he and an international team put together what it takes to make an epic journey.
In other insect news, researchers have observed ants amputating infected limbs of wounded nests.
The surprise
Dig into these inspiring reads.
— The rotation of the Earth’s core has been slowing down for decades, a recent study confirmed. Here’s what that could mean.
— Palaontologists have uncovered fossils of a giant swamp creature with a toilet seat-shaped head that was likely a top predator 40 million years before dinosaurs appeared on Earth.
— The discovery of fossilized grape seeds has revealed why you have the dinosaurs to thank for your glass of red wine.
– A Massachusetts woman who lost a limb after an accident in 2018 is walking and moving like no other now that she has a bionic leg fully connected to her brain.
— A new NASA radar image shows a small moon orbiting an asteroid as it makes a close pass to Earth.
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