In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences, a research team led by Professor Chengbang An reconstructed 4,000 years of dietary evolution in the central-eastern Eurasian Steppe from the Bronze Age to the Tang Dynasty, revealing synchronized dietary shifts across multiple regions: increased millet and meat consumption from the Early Iron Age to the Han Dynasty, followed by a return to wheat- and barley-based C₃ diets during the Jin-Tang periods. The study further demonstrates that these transitions were jointly driven by climate change, intensified interregional interaction among pastoralist groups, and innovations in grain processing technology. This work provides a critical reference for understanding human-environment interactions in the Eurasian Steppe.

A new study presents high-resolution nitrogen isotope records from the inner-ramp Penglaiba section in the Tarim Basin, documenting a two-stage deoxygenation–reoxygenation redox history of shallow marine environments during the Terreneuvian Epoch. Integrated with regional datasets, the findings demonstrate a persistent depth-dependent redox gradient across the basin, providing cross-basin validation for the hypothesis that stepwise shallow-ocean oxygenation modulated the multi-phase trajectory of the Cambrian Explosion.