What happens when violence targets the future of a society?
Our new paper in Nature Human Behaviour examines one of Europe’s largest prehistoric mass graves and finds evidence for selective violence directed against women and children in the Early Iron Age.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Big congrats @mireniraorb.bsky.social 👏 👏 Great work getting that together; such an interesting manuscript!
Really excited to share our new paper on the Early Iron Age mass grave at Gomolava (9th c. BCE), a study I had the pleasure to work on during my PhD with an amazing group of co-authors across multiple disciplines. Open access link: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵👇
Excited and proud 😊 to share the final chapter of @hjorvik.bsky.social 's PhD thesis:
Seven Millennia of Human Exploitation drove genomic Changes in Iberian Sheep
Comments welcome! 🧬🧪🏺🐑
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧵(1/8)
Interested in using aDNA time-series datasets to estimate selection?
Our study "Assessing Ancient DNA Sampling Strategies for Natural Selection Inference in Humans Using Allele Frequency Time Series Data" is now out in GBE! doi.org/10.1093/gbe/... @genomebiolevol.bsky.social @cegamorim.bsky.social
We hope this little guide and review of the recent literature on SVs will be useful for the community in #ecology #evolution #genomics #PopGen.
Great lead by Kat!!
Comparing relatedness estimates across genetic marker types and numbers.
(2/2) Using whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and STR data from a Rhesus macaque population, we show that low-coverage WGS data, even at 0.05x, have better accuracy than STR data for relatedness estimates.
We therefore advocate for WGS data!
Systematic Literature Review figure of how genetic relatedness estimates are done in the wild.
(1/2) The preprint of our perspective on genetic estimates of relatedness in animal populations is out! Big Congratulations to Annika!
doi.org/10.32942/X28...
A systematic review of 2,861 articles shows that, even in 2025, 75% of such studies use microsatellites. And most use only a few!
#PopGen
We developed/optimised the protocol to enrich low aDNA content libraries using Twist panels. 🎣🧬👩🔬
#aDNA #Labwork
SciLifeLab has opened a call for #postdoc fellows in Data-Driven Life Science. We would be happy to host such fellows!
Get in touch if you are interested in applying with a project on the evolution of humans and domestic animals using ancient and/or modern DNA 🧪🏺
www.scilifelab.se/data-driven/...
#AI may indeed exacerbate our bad academic habits:
#LLM science summaries were nearly five times more likely than human-authored science summaries to contain broad generalizations (95% CI [3.06, 7.70], p < 0.001).
And newer models over-generalized more; not less!
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
#philSci
This smells distinctly like collider bias and/or selection bias and/or regression to the mean... You simply can't select teen prodigies, and world class athletes rom databases, and go run regressions without serious consideration of the selection process!
Have you ever wondered: just how strong *is* the evidence for Muller's ratchet on mtDNA?
Well, wonder no more!
(Project led by Yu Mo, with @smishra677.bsky.social and @yadirapga.bsky.social)
"No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Happy to share my work with my advisor Zachary Szpiech! Why are associations between ROH & complex traits inconsistent across studies? We use realistic simulations to show how demographic history and genetic architecture interact to shape the phenotypic impact of ROH. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
More Italians 😂 #aDNA #PopGen
The commitments in the SAFE Labs Handbook.
A new community-driven lab handbook for reducing conflict and creating more positive and equitable work environments gets strong support from a survey of 200 researchers.
buff.ly/K7CGFLV
SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW
PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going—
SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT
PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti—
SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE
What's that? 5 ancient doggy papers in 10 days is too many dogs?
Can I interest you in some cats?
Perhaps a complete retelling of cat domestication, dispersal, and replacement across Eurasia?
As you wish!
Science
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Cell Genomics
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
I taught (and co-taught) a course on human population genetics from 2000-2024. Having retired, I'm now making all the course materials public: github.com/alanrogers/p... #popgen #evbio
As I told the CNN, without details and data it is not possible to assess the claims.
More importantly, the scientific value of this media campaign, balanced against the possible stigmatization of individuals with these real conditions today, is highly questionable. edition.cnn.com/2025/11/13/s...
Putting aside the deeper issues of why this analysis was done and how it has been promoted, the choice to broadcast a tv show before releasing a preprint should make people skeptical of the results. How can one be sure of their scientific claims?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
New paper led by Javier Maravall on a time transect from ancient Argentina.
✨Thrilled to share that the first chapter of my Ph.D. thesis is NOW OUT in Science Advances! ✨🥳🎉 🧬. This couldn't have been possible without the support of everyone involved
@genscapelab.bsky.social, @nirajrai.bsky.social, @cdelafc.bsky.social, @jaurban2204.bsky.social, @mootspoints.bsky.social
Jasmin Rees PhD chapter as a paper just out at the AJHG @ajhgnews.bsky.social, with Sergi Castellano, who first envisioned the study. Jas investigated signatures of human local genetic adaptation in hundreds of micronutrient-associated genes.
Excited to share that I’ve started as Associate Professor at the Technical University of Denmark! 🧑🎓
I also received an a NNF Emerging Investigator grant to use genomics + machine learning to study extinction.
👉 PhD & Postdoc positions coming soon — follow for updates!
Reposts appreciated 🙏
Anglo-Saxons with West African roots: DNA analysis of 7th century burials reported in @antiquity.ac.uk today reveals long-distance connections reached across continents and cultures. Read about it @science.org:
😅😅 good one and good summary!
#Population history of the Southern #Caucasus: Archaeogenetic study generates #DNA transect spanning nearly 5,000 years. In @cellpress.bsky.social by Eirini Skourtanioti, Xiaowen Jia, @hringbauer.bsky.social & an intl. team. #PopulationGenetics More: tinyurl.com/8r39ywfu & doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
