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An international team of researchers... In a study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution... found that the indigenous populations of inner Eurasia are very diverse in their genes, culture and languages, but divide into three groups that stretch across the area in east-west geographic bands... This vast area can also be divided into several distinct ecological regions that stretch in largely east-west bands across Inner Eurasia, consisting of the deserts at the southern edge of the region, the steppe in the central part, taiga forests further north, and tundra towards the Arctic region. The subsistence strategies used by indigenous groups...

Siberians fear minus 30 is too warm for comfort By Julius Strauss in Yuchyugay (Filed: 05/03/2005) The afternoon high is a little below minus 30 degrees Celsius an hour outside the small Siberian settlement of Yuchyugay, even in the pale winter sun. But at this time of the year, locals say with a frown, it should be a steady minus 50. As cars roll across the wide, frozen rivers, traces of running water show where the current runs so fast that the ice melts, a phenomenon, the locals insist, that should only occur much later in the season. Environmental research...