Merlin Szymanski

UPDATE: The application period for these (amazing, fun, really cool!) sedaDNA PhD positions in our group is March 2-27, but we will start screening applications after the first week. If you are interested, please try to submit *between March 2nd and 8th!* Not by March 1st as I originally wrote..

Are you interested in human DNA from ancient sediments? Do you want to do a PhD in Vienna? We have two open positions in our group! You can learn more and apply here (scroll down to the very bottom, ours are the last two listings): careers.univie.ac.at/en/praedoc/s...

Munitionsbergung in Nord- und Ostsee Es wird davon ausgegangen, dass 1,6 Millionen Tonnen Munition in Deutschen Gewässern versenkt wurden. Das Zeug rostet nicht nur, sondern setzt auch Giftstoffe frei. Jens Greinert vom Geomar erstellt K...

My todays science podcast recommendation (in german):

erdeumwelt.podigee.io/7-munitionsb...

The science around 1.6 mio tons of ammunition dumped into the sea after world war 2 :)

Early hominins from Morocco reveal an African lineage near the root of Homo sapiens Study pinpoints 773,000-year-old fossils with high-resolution magnetostratigraphic dating, illuminating the shared ancestry of Homo sapiens, Neandertals, and Denisovans

🦴🔬 773,000-year-old #fossils from Morocco illuminate the shared ancestry of H. sapiens, Neandertals & Denisovans. Study @nature.com by an intl. team led by J.-J. Hublin, incl. @matthewskinnerphd.bsky.social & P. Gunz @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social. tinyurl.com/yxz4kcff & www.nature.com/articles/s41...

📢 We're hiring a postdoc (33 months) in human evolutionary genomics / paleogenomics / statistical genetics, Paris 🇫🇷
Project on selection on disease-associated variants, integrating ancient genomes, GWAS, and Ancestral Rec. Graphs.
Start May 2026 (flexible).
Apply here: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...

📢Do you work on the (micro-) geoarchaeology of cave sediments? Join our Session #178 at the EAA 2026 Annual Meeting in Athens (26–29 August 2026)!
For further details, please scan the QR code below!
Abstract submissions open on 19 December 2025! 📢

🚨ONLINE WORKSHOP🚨
We will be hosting a free online workshop “Maximising Data from Palaeolithic Bone" as part of the the COEXIST project on 10th March 2026. Please submit abstract by 23rd January 2026. Further information in the flyer. See you there!

I am very excited to present this work to the (sed)aDNA community - and I am looking forward to some cool applications!

If you want to use quicksand, I recommend following supplementary section 8, which demonstrates several use-cases :)

see github.com/mpieva/quicksand for more details

quick analysis of sedimentary ancient DNA using quicksand Abstract. Ancient DNA extracted from the sediments of archaeological sites (sedaDNA) can provide fine-grained information about the composition of past eco

Cool work from my colleagues @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social just dropped! Merlin Szymanski, @janetk.bsky.social et al. developed quicksand, a fast, accurate and beautifully designed Nextflow pipeline for taxonomic classification of mammalian mtDNA from ancient sediment DNA. doi.org/10.1093/molb...

Abstract submission & Award applications for SMBE 2026 are now open!

Abstract submission & Award applications for SMBE 2026 are now open!

Submit your research and apply for SMBE awards via the submission portal.
📝 Read more & submit here: smbe2026.org/abstracts

And symposium selection is now finalized!
👉 See all accepted symposia: smbe2026.org/programme

#SMBE2026