Stakeholders, destructive sampling, and TV publications are, of course, all topics generally relevant to ancient DNA that we should regularly reflect upon.

For Medieval genomes with a name tag, I have a harder time seeing how they would meaningfully affect anyone in the present day, or what particular reasons there are not to study them.

A tricky line is crossed when one is in the reach of multiple IBD segments with present-day people (~10 generations ago). Then, ancient DNA with a "name tag" can have real-world consequences for present-day people (e.g., help with identifiability).

Map of the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages, showing the Islamic areas of influence and Ibiza.

Ricardo, lead author of the article, processing one of the samples in the lab.

New paper alert 🚨

Researchers at #CPGStlhm have analyzed ancient genomes from an Islamic cemetery in Ibiza (950–1150 CE) 🏖️

They found a highly diverse community with ancestry from Europe and North Africa!

The paper was published in @natcomms.nature.com

OA link www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Out today is our paper 'Genomic history of early dogs in Europe', in which we uncover the identity of the dogs that lived in Europe before agriculture—during the Paleolithic & Mesolithic periods: doi.org/10.1038/s415.... A thread ⬇️ (10)

@biouea.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social

Sequencing the emperors is not mere celebrity genomics.

Authentic remains from Medieval people with known life histories build a ressource for improving bioarchaelogical methods (like mapping C14 reservoir effects).

And the genomes will also help identifying other Medieval elites.

(3/3)

Their two Ys are a perfect match too - as in the historic relationship. ✅️

They both are in a R1b haplogroup that is very rare today. The whole male lineage of emperors (which died out with Saint Henry) did not leave a big legacy!

Shoutout to FamilyTreeDNA for a productive collaboration. 🙌

(2/3)

We just published a brief preprint on aDNA from two Medieval Ottonic emperors. 🧬👑

We confirm via IBD segments that remains attributed to Otto "the Great" and "Saint" Heinrich are third-degree relatives. As historically attested - suggesting that they are authentic. ✅️

doi.org/10.64898/202...
(1/3)

The HAAM summer school is always a fantastic online workshop on popgen analysis via aDNA. Check out the 2026 version!
⬇️💡🧬

🆕 HAAM Summer School 2026
📅 June 1-5, 2026
📍 Online
💰 Free
🧑‍🔬🧑‍💻 For Students & ECR
🔓 Applications open until April 13, 2026!
🔗 Apply here: forms.gle/ckqTgQxnEENJ...

A large mass grave from the Early Iron Age indicates selective violence towards women and children in the Carpathian Basin - Nature Human Behaviour In this analysis of biomolecular and archaeological data from a ninth-century BCE mass grave in the Carpathian Basin, Fibiger et al. find evidence for the targeted killing of mostly unrelated women an...

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!

A large mass grave from the Early Iron Age indicates selective violence towards women and children in the Carpathian Basin - Nature Human Behaviour In this analysis of biomolecular and archaeological data from a ninth-century BCE mass grave in the Carpathian Basin, Fibiger et al. find evidence for the targeted killing of mostly unrelated women an...

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)

Assessing Ancient DNA Sampling Strategies for Natural Selection Inference in Humans Using Allele Frequency Time Series Data Abstract. The increased availability of genomic data from ancient humans allows estimating the strength of natural selection at a given locus using time se

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

DDLS Research School Postdoc call 2026 Call for Academic and Industrial Postdoctoral Fellowships in Data-Driven Life Science 2026 Generic Description of the DDLS Postdoc Program The SciLifeLab and Wallenberg National Program for Data-Drive...

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!

No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes Muller's ratchet predicts that non-recombining genomes can accumulate deleterious mutations, though molecular evidence for it is rare. Previous studies have tried to detect ratchet-like behavior in mi...

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...

The Influence of Demographic History and Genetic Architecture on Complex Traits via Runs of Homozygosity Runs of homozygosity (ROH) are contiguous genomic regions where all sites are homozygous, inherited from identical haplotypes due to shared ancestry. The number and length of ROH in individuals varies...

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

The dispersal of domestic cats from North Africa to Europe around 2000 years ago The domestic cat (Felis catus) descends from the African wildcat Felis lybica lybica. Its global distribution alongside humans testifies to its successful adaptation to anthropogenic environments. Unc...

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...

GitHub - alanrogers/popgen: A course on population genetics A course on population genetics. Contribute to alanrogers/popgen development by creating an account on GitHub.

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

Researchers say they have verified and sequenced Hitler’s DNA – and found a genetic disorder | CNN Analysis of Adolf Hitler’s DNA reveals he may have had a rare genetic disorder that can delay puberty.

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...