A new genomic study reveals how human populations adapted, survived, and diversified in the Himalayas, one of the most extreme and challenging environments on Earth.

The research, a collaboration between the University of Birmingham and international partners from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, analysed whole-genome sequences from diverse Himalayan ethnic groups, many of which had never been genetically studied before at this level.

Published in Current Biology, the studyshows that population structure in the Himalayas began over 10,000 years ago, thousands of years before archaeological evidence of permanent settlement at high altitudes. This early divergence challenges long-standing assumptions about when and how diverse groups first began accessing the extreme elevations of the Himalayas.