Fossil analysis reveals how Denisovans thrived on ‘roof of the world’ | CNN

Editor’s Note: A version of this article originally appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. To get it delivered to your inbox, Register for free here.

CNN
—

The grasslands, glaciers and snow-capped peaks of the Tibetan Plateau are breathtaking, but the vast expanse of Central Asia is also one of the harshest environments on the planet.

When I went to the plateau thirty years ago, I had headaches and became lethargic from altitude sickness.

Archaeologists have long believed that the Tibetan Plateau, located more than 4,000 meters above sea level, was one of the last places on the planet to have been inhabited.

But new research suggests that a mysterious species of ancient human may have thrived on what’s called the roof of the world long before the arrival of Homo sapiens, our own species.

Researchers first identified Denisovans in 2010 using DNA sequences extracted from a tiny, rare fragment of finger bone discovered in Siberia.

Today, the Baishiya karst cave, at the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, helps answer many questions about the identity of the Denisovans.

Archaeologists examined a jawbone and a rib bone found at the cave site, as well as thousands of animal bone fragments recovered during excavations in 2018 and 2019.

The analysis sheds light on how extinct humans thrived in the Ice Age environment for more than 100,000 years.

With the return of the Chang’e-6 lunar mission on June 25, the Chinese government has something no other human has encountered: rocks and soil from the far side of the moon.

The China National Space Administration has announced that 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 U.S. law known as the Wolf Amendment, which prohibits NASA from using public funds for bilateral cooperation with China or its agencies without authorization from Congress or the FBI, could hamper U.S. access to the samples.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told CNN this week that the federal agency is working to ensure that access to lunar soil samples would not violate the law. The results of analyzing the samples could help scientists trace back to the earliest days of the moon, Earth and the solar system.

Take a moment to marvel at what researchers believe to be the world’s oldest known story. Painted on a cave wall in what is now Indonesia, it depicts three humans interacting with a pig.

The research team used a new technique to date the calcium carbonate crust that formed on the artwork to more than 50,000 years old.

The discovery is the most recent piece of rock art discovered 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 believe the paintings may have been a visual complement to oral histories lost to time.

Rivers often change course as they flow. But a team of researchers studying the Ganges River, which winds from the Himalayas through India and Bangladesh, has discovered evidence of something far more dramatic in its ancient past.

From clues hidden in mud and grains of sand, scientists have discovered that a powerful earthquake diverted the river’s course 2,500 years ago – the first time this natural phenomenon has been detected.

The team discovered sand volcanoes – a hallmark of a riverbed affected by an earthquake – and a large riverbed that filled with mud around the same time.

If a similar earthquake were to occur in the Ganges Delta today, more than 140 million people in the region could be affected.

About ten years ago, entomologist Dr. Gérard Talavera discovered ten butterflies from the Painted Lady family on a beach in French Guiana. With their wings torn and riddled with holes, these insects appeared exhausted.

Although a painted lady is a hardy long-distance traveler, with migration patterns spanning thousands of miles, she typically travels overland so she can stop and rest.

Talavera, a senior researcher at the Botanical Institute of Barcelona in Spain, suspected that the butterflies had crossed the Atlantic Ocean without stopping. In a new study, he and an international team pieced together the evidence for such an epic journey.

In other insect news, researchers have spotted ants amputating infected limbs from injured ants.

Dive into these thought-provoking reads.

— The rotation of the Earth’s core has been slowing down for several decades, as confirmed by a recent study. Here’s what that could mean.

— Paleontologists have discovered fossils of a giant swamp creature with a toilet seat-shaped skull 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 demise of the dinosaurs to thank for your glass of red wine.

— A Massachusetts woman who lost a limb in a 2018 accident is walking and moving like everyone else now that she has a bionic leg fully connected to her brain.

— A new NASA radar image shows a tiny moon around an asteroid as it passes close to Earth.

Did you like what you read? Oh, but there’s more. register here to receive the next issue of Wonder Theory, presented by the editors of CNN Space and Science, in your inbox Ashley Strickland And Katie HuntThey marvel at planets beyond our solar system and discover things from the ancient world.