Records & People
A gene that lets Sherpa bodies thrive on a fraction of the oxygen you and I need did not evolve in modern humans at all — it came from the…
By Laxman Rawal · Aug 25, 2026
Put a fit foreign trekker and a Sherpa mountain guide side by side at 5,364m, the altitude of Everest Base Camp, and measure their blood. The trekker's body is often panicking, pumping out extra red blood cells to compensate for the thin air, thickening the…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
For a lowlander, the body's first response to thin air is to manufacture more red blood cells, thickening the blood to carry more oxygen per litre. It works, up to a point — but overdo it and the blood becomes sluggish, raising the risk of clots and the…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
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