Siberian

At first glance, nematodes are unassuming roundworms—but don’t underestimate them. In 2018 scientists announced they had discovered and revived two types of microscopic nematodes found in the Siberian permafrost, estimating they may have been 42,000 years old. Now these roundworms are the subject of more research, which posits that one of these nematode varieties represents a new species, dubbed Panagrolaimus kolymaensis for the Kolyma River where they were found. The new research, published on July 27 in the journal…

This figure represents three types of events on days -10 to 3, 300 hPa height anomalies and wave activity flux. It shows the circulation characteristics and energy propagation characteristics of the three types of events in the process of evolution. The different mechanisms of Siberian high pressure enhancement are highlighted. Credit: Jian Song Cold and unusual weather events in East Asia have significant adverse…

Due to a combination of climate change and state neglect, giant wildfires raged through millions of hectares of land in northeastern Siberia in the summer of 2021. Classified as “control zones” by the Russian government, the region gets little aid from officials; the cost of combating fires is considered to be excessive compared to the damage done. Focusing on the rural village of Shologon, Alexander Abaturov’s evocative documentary chronicles the heroic efforts of the indigenous community to protect their homes.Largely…

An adult bear recovered from the Siberian permafrost in the Lyakhovsky Islands in 2020 is not, as originally thought, around 30,000 years old. In fact, its age is more in the region of 3,500 years old.That's the verdict of researchers from the North-Eastern Federal University in Russia, who carried out a new necropsy of the well-preserved specimen. It remains an incredible find, offering an intriguing window into a past that isn't quite as far back as presumed.Initially, the team thought they were dealing with a cave…

Skull. Credit: Sergey V. Semenov The movement of people across the Bering Sea from North Asia to North America is a well-known phenomenon in early human history. Nevertheless, the genetic makeup of the people who lived in North Asia during this time has remained mysterious due to a limited number of ancient genomes analyzed from this region. Now, researchers reporting in Current Biology on January 12 describe genomes from ten…

Researchers looked at DNA extracted from the remains of 13 Neanderthals that lived in Asia about 54,000 years ago and found some surprising relationships among them.Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were a group of hominins that lived alongside and interbred with anatomically modern humans until their disappearance around 40,000 years ago. Recognizable for their barrel chests, stocky builds, and pronounced brows, Neanderthals are thought to have been bred out of existence; most everyone walking around today has…

Set on a rocky outcrop in southern Siberia, Chagyrskaya Cave might not look like much. But for one family of Neanderthals, it was home. For the first time, researchers have identified a set of closely related Neanderthals: a father and his teenage daughter and two other, more-distant relatives. The discovery of the family—reported on 19 October in Nature — and seven other individuals (including a pair of possible cousins from another clan) in the same cave, along with two more from a nearby site, represents the largest…

An artist’s illustration of a Neanderthal father and his daughter. Credit: Tom BjorklundAncient genomes of thirteen Neanderthals provide an unprecedented snapshot of their community and social organization.For the first time, scientists have managed to sequence multiple individuals from a remote Neanderthal community in Siberia. Among these thirteen individuals, the investigators identified multiple related individuals, including a father and his teenage daughter. The thirteen genomes also allowed the researchers to…

Over 40 years, dendrochronologists have collected more than 5,000 samples of subfossil trees in Yamal. Credit: Vladimir Kukarskih The north of Western Siberia is recording the warmest summers of the last 7,000 years. While for several millennia the temperature of the region was following a general cooling, in the 19th century there has been an abrupt change with rapidly rising temperature that has reached its highest value in…

The Siberian tundra could disappear by the year 2500, unless greenhouse gas emissions are dramatically reduced. Even in the best-case scenarios, two-thirds of this landscape – defined by its short growing season and cover of grasses, moss, shrubs and lichens – could vanish, leaving behind two fragments separated by 1,553 miles (2,500 kilometers), scientists recently predicted.  And as the tundra's permafrost cover melts away, it could release vast quantities of stored greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, potentially…