Free Republic

Waving the Chinese national flag above her head, face ecstatic, Yao Miao sprints through thick, cheering crowds lining the streets of Chamonix, France. It’s September 2, 2018, and the 23-year-old runner is about to win one of the world’s premier mountain ultras—the 62-mile division of the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB). She crosses the finish line in 11 hours, 57 minutes, and 46 seconds. The second place woman, American Katie Schide, is more than 30 minutes behind her. Despite a race that’s infamous for its high-altitude passages and grueling weather conditions, Yao Miao’s stride and posture betray no signs...

A pipeline pumping natural gas from Myanmar to energy-hungry China has gone fully operational, state-run Chinese media said on Monday. BEIJING: A pipeline pumping natural gas from Myanmar to energy-hungry China has gone fully operational, state-run Chinese media said on Monday. The project, stretching more than 2,500 kilometres from western Myanmar to southwest China, will help the world's second-largest economy feed its growing energy needs. It comes as close political ties between the two nations have weakened, after Myanmar's quasi-civilian regime took office in 2011 and brought in sweeping reforms that have led to the scrapping of most Western sanctions....

Chinese researchers have tracked the "exceptionally well-preserved fossils" to the Middle Triassic of China (235-242 million years ago). The Triassic period saw the re-establishment of ecosystems after the Permian mass extinction. The fossils represent new evidence that marine ecosystems re-established more quickly than previously thought. The Permian mass extinction had a bigger impact on the earth's ecological systems than any other mass extinction, wiping out 90-95% of marine species. Previous studies have suggested that Triassic marine life developed more quickly than was once thought and that marine ecosystems were re-established more rapidly than terrestrial ecosystems... The fossils show an asymmetrical,...