"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Saturday, July 03, 2010

Within Historical Times

A striking example of how fast evolution can work.

The evolutionary biologists say the results of their study, which compares the genomes of 50 Tibetans and 40 Han Chinese, shows that Tibetans rapidly developed a unique ability to survive in altitudes above 13,000 feet, where oxygen levels are about 40 percent lower than at sea level.

The study said that Tibetans evolved to adapt to high altitudes after splitting off from the Han about 2,750 years ago.

The first confirmed examples of writing in China are from about 1500 BCE; by 1000 BCE, China was a literate, historical civilization. (Damn -- another culture I've got to investigate -- markings have been found dating from 6000-5000 BCE that could be the antecedents of written Chinese. Fascinating.) (Umm -- in case you were wondering, yes, I am a history nut.)
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