How the search for Ferghana horses helped open the Silk Road

China opened Silk Road routes partly in search of better horses

China's Han rulers expanded into Central Asia through war and diplomacy while also seeking valuable goods, including the prized horses of Ferghana. These efforts helped open lasting routes between China and the wider trade networks later called the Silk Road.

< 364,000 Years

A complex eye could evolve surprisingly quickly

A model found that, even with cautious assumptions about mutations, natural selection, and generation time, a vertebrate-style eye could evolve from a simple patch of light-sensitive cells in less than 364,000 years.

Continents are too light to easily sink under each other

When two continents collide, their crust is too light for either side to easily sink deep into the mantle. Instead, the edges are squeezed, folded, and pushed upward. This can build huge mountain ranges such as the Himalayas and Alps.

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How the search for Ferghana horses helped open the Silk Road

China opened Silk Road routes partly in search of better horses

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