Tibetans can bring 'super powers' from another human species

Shocking research from the US shows that our Homo sapiens ancestors in Tibet had two periods of interbreeding with extinct humans called Denisovans, resulting in the present Tibetans having unique abilities.

The work, carried out by a team of scientists from the University of California at Davis (UC Davis), has just been published in the scientific journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution.

Research shows that the Denisovans came to the Tibetan plateau 160,000 years ago and there were 2 periods when both the Denisovans community and the Homo sapiens community (our modern humans) exchanged and arose interracial marriage.

Picture 1 of Tibetans can bring 'super powers' from another human species

Tibetans live extremely healthy in harsh and oxygen-starved places thanks to inheriting "superpowers" from an extinct human species.

The ancestors of different species passed on some special genes to the daughters of two bloodlines. These women continue to carry precious genetic resources to later generations of Tibetan Homo sapiens, maintained until now - about 20,000 - 30,000 years after the other ancestors went extinct.

These genes allow the Tibetans to be highly adaptive to high altitudes, breathe well, live well with very low oxygen levels on the Tibetan plateau and are unique genes that no other Homo sapiens community has. . Tibet is famous for being a harsh highland, where most outsiders have serious health problems due to lack of oxygen.

According to Phys.org, the main factor creating the superpower is the Endothelia Pas1 (EPAS1) gene, which significantly improves the circulation of oxygen in the blood, common in modern Tibetans and Siberian women. An ancient version very similar to this gene was found when scientists found mitochondrial DNA, extracted from the thumb bone of a Denisovans girl discovered in the Altai Mountains, Siberia.

According to Ancient Origins, settlement evidence shows that Denisovans occupied the Tibetan plateau 160,000 years ago, while modern humans arrived in three groups, at 40,000, 16,000 and 8,000 years ago, respectively. It was the group of Homo sapiens that first arrived in Tibet that were endowed with this "superpower".

Update 14 December 2021
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