Stories by Jane Qiu

A new combo of climate and habitat crises, along with immune system stress, is driving more bat-borne viruses to afflict us

Wuhan-based virologist Shi Zhengli has identified dozens of deadly SARS-like viruses in bat caves, and she warns there are more out there

Scientists are rushing to estimate the proportion of people with mild or no symptoms who could be spreading the pathogen

Fracturing of Himalayan glaciers could make them melt faster, threatening the water supply for more than a billion people in Asia 

But Beijing is often sidelined in international collaboration, and U.S. laws against collaboration slow efforts down

The massive East Antarctic Ice Sheet looks stable from above—but it’s a dangerously different story below

Scientists thought people first set foot on the frozen Tibetan Plateau 15,000 years ago. New genomic analyses suggest multiplying that figure as much as fourfold

Two species of distantly related panda may have adapted to a bamboo-centric diet in similar genetic ways  

Converging genetic and archaeological evidence hints that early migrants clung to the frigid, oxygen-starved “roof of the world” through the worst the climate could throw at them

An atmospheric mechanism is lofting Indian and Chinese pollution into the stratosphere

The iconic animal’s status change by an influential conservation organization triggers controversy in China

Climate change could be to blame for Tibetan tragedy

Flood risk rises as new hydroelectric power projects move upstream to meet rising demand

Fossil finds in China are challenging ideas about the evolution of modern humans and our closest relatives

Crustaceans at 10,000 meters contain higher concentrations of chemicals than some animals in coastal waters

A glaciologist doesn’t let a heart transplant keep him from braving dizzying altitudes to gather crucial ice core samples from retreating tropical and subtropical glaciers

A year after a devastating earthquake triggered killer avalanches and rock falls in Nepal, scientists are wiring up mountainsides to forecast hazards

New evidence suggests the ancient trade route ventured through the heights of Tibet

A geologist working at the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu talks about the aftermath of the magnitude 7.8 event near that city

Pollutants from south Asia cook stoves and fires apparently waft over even the world's highest mountain range, counter to previous assumptions

Why are plateau and mountain timberlines in Asia shifting downslope, despite global warming?

High terrains might have been the training ground for cold adaptation before the Ice Age struck

The 2,300-year-old matrix is the world's oldest decimal multiplication table

Herbicide resistance and other genetic modifications could confer an advantage on plants in the wild