altitude,
brown bears,
climbing,
Daisheng Song,
Darwin Devolves,
Darwinism,
Evolution,
genes,
genetic information,
genome,
Han Chinese,
hemoglobin,
Himalayas,
Intelligent Design,
interfertility,
loss of function,
lowlanders,
Michael Behe,
Mount Everest,
mount improbable,
natural selection,
Nepalese,
oxygen,
Phd2,
PNAS,
polar bears,
positive selection,
seal meat,
Sherpa,
super-athletes,
Tibetans,
Wikipedia
How can Tibetans survive high altitudes that leave lowlanders gasping? The answer is found in broken genes. A new paper on the Tibetan genome vindicates what Michael Behe said in Darwin Devolves: evolution breaks things, but sometimes, like in the case of polar bears, the result can allow organisms to thrive in specific environments. Yes, this follows on the heels of last week’s Behe vindication; see here. A team of 16 scientists, writing in PNAS, sought to understand the genetic basis for Tibetan high-altitude adaptation in more detail. Tibetans and Nepalese, many of whom serve as guides for lowlanders wanting to conquer Mount Everest, routinely carry heavy burdens at altitudes above 14,000 feet, the average elevation on the Tibetan plateau. In its entry on Sherpa people, Wikipedia notes, Many Sherpa…