Tibetan

Natural-colour satellite image of the Tibetan Plateau. Credit: NASA A research team led by Prof. Ding Lin from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has systematically explained the differential uplift process and its related deep dynamic mechanism of the Tibetan Plateau since the Cretaceous.…

Global temperatures continue to rise, with melting glaciers everywhere sending more water into the oceans and land. Ancient permafrost has begun to soften and melt, opening up massive craters within the Earth. Another concern of the ongoing rising temperatures, though, is how melting glaciers, like some extreme Tibetan glaciers, could unleash species of possibly dangerous ancient microbes. Scientists found nearly 1,000 new microbes living in extreme Tibetan glaciers Image source: Kevin Frayer / Stringer /…

Scientists have discovered nearly 1,000 new species of microbes in the frozen Tibetan Plateau, one of the harshest environments on the planet. Researchers identified and catalogued 968 species of microorganisms that were found in extreme environmental conditions. The team of researchers set out to identify and discover microorganisms in 21 Tibetan glaciers between 2016 and 2020. The chosen glaciers are some of the most affected by climate change and have been retreating rapidly, which means that the microbes living there…

Living as a microbe on the Tibetan Plateau isn't easy. Frigid temperatures, high levels of solar radiation, not a lot to eat, and you'd regularly get frozen and then thawed depending on the time of year.  So, it's a bit of a surprise that in these 'extreme environmental conditions' scientists have discovered 968 species featuring a hugely diverse range of microbes. The finding comes courtesy of the first dedicated genome catalog of the glacier ecosystem."The surfaces of glaciers support a diverse array of life, including…

Why would someone join an institution that removed the option of family life and required them to be celibate? Reproduction, after all, is at the very heart of the evolution that shaped us.  Yet many religious institutions around the world require exactly this. The practice has led anthropologists to wonder how celibacy could have evolved in the first place.Some have suggested that practices that are costly to individuals, such as never having children, can still emerge when people blindly conform to norms that benefit a…

Snow-covered mountains on the Tibetan Plateau. Credit: Yanbin Lei The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is referred to as the "water tower" of Asia for being home to the headwaters of many major rivers in Asia, including the Yangtze, Yellow, Ganges, and Indus. Therefore, TP precipitation is important for not only local, but regional water resources too. On the other hand, the TP can strongly modulate the Asian climate through dynamic and…