Lots of exciting new papers coming out in our special issue on population genetics methods & software in 2026 🚀

New tools, pipelines, and best practices - great to see this growing into a useful community resource.

📅 Submissions open until 31 May
👉 www.pivotscipub.com/hpgg/special...

📢 Our aDNA study has been published today in
@natcomms.nature.com! A great collaboration with Ricardo Rodríguez, Anders Götherström, Carina Schlebusch & team.

𝘈𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘐𝘣𝘪𝘻𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

ScienceVega ScienceVega - March 2026

Great to work with Michael Thame on this ScienceVega issue highlighting women in STEM!

edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader...

#Call for #Applications: #HumanPast #SCAS #Fellowships 2027-28 for both #early-career and senior #interdisciplinary researchers. Deadline: 1 June 2026. More information on our web: shorturl.at/VAAfl #humanpast #opportunity #genetics #archaeology #linguistics #prehistory @haam-community.bsky.social

We have a new preprint! - "Ancient Pathogen Genomics in Africa – Current Evidence and Future Directions"

A review of current evidence, challenges, and opportunities for studying past epidemics and host–pathogen evolution using ancient DNA from African contexts.

www.preprints.org/manuscript/2...

New preprint! with @a-solernunez.bsky.social

Rethinking a textbook example of human adaptation "AMY1 copy number evolution in light of demographic history"

Once population structure is accounted for, the classic starch–agriculture narrative becomes much less clear

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Working link: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Great work by @a-solernunez.bsky.social

Great press coverage by @elsabebrits.bsky.social on our recent publication. Thank you!

Homo sapiens-specific evolution unveiled by ancient southern African genomes - Nature The genomes of 28 ancient southern African individuals dated to between 10,200 and 150 years before present offer insights into the evolution of Homo sapiens.

Our new ancient DNA paper has just been published!
We present 28 new genomes from southern Africa - several of them high-coverage whole genomes.
Exciting to be moving towards population-level representation of ancient southern African genetic diversity!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our special issue on popgen methods and software is on a roll with the second paper out! Looking forward to many exciting papers to come! Submission open until 15 January. www.pivotscipub.com/hpgg/special...

Postdoctoral position in Palaeo-population genomics at the Center for the Human Past - Uppsala University Postdoctoral position in Palaeo-population genomics at the Center for the Human Past, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University

#Vacancies: we are looking for not just one but three #postdoctoral researchers interested in bridging #genetics, #archaeology and #linguistics in exploring the #humanpast. shorturl.at/B3Qdd @haam-community.bsky.social @cschlebu.bsky.social

So happy after presenting my poster at #ASHG2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. New insights and wonderful questions about key demographic events that have re-shaped the genomic and cultural landscape in Africa. Kudos to my great collaborators and mentors. 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

Due to the popularity of our special issue on Population Genomics Methods and Software and the high quality of submitted papers, we’ve extended the submission deadline to 15 January!

Submissions focusing on software and tools are very welcome.
🔗 www.pivotscipub.com/hpgg/special...

🎉The 1st paper in our special issue "Population Genomics Methods and Software" is now published!!

“SimHumanity: Using SLiM 5.0 to run whole-genome simulations of human evolution”
www.pivotscipub.com/hpgg/5/4/000...

Many more exciting papers to come - stay tuned!
www.pivotscipub.com/hpgg/special...

The coevolution of languages, peoples and environments in Central Africa’s Kwilu-Kasai region since ∼1000 BCE: A dialogue with Jan Vansina In this article, Jan Vansina’s essay on the deep-time population history of the Kwilu-Kasai region, now more than half a century old, is revisited thr…

Our new paper is out! 🪶 “The coevolution of languages, peoples & environments in Central Africa’s Kwilu-Kasai region since ~1000 BCE” revisits Jan Vansina’s ideas using new linguistic, archaeological & genetic data - revealing the region was a hub of Bantu diversification. doi.org/10.1016/j.qe...

This week, we welcomed our colleague Modeste Zeye from Burkina Faso to Uppsala. 🌍 It was great to meet in person again and catch up.
One evening, we had dinner at Messob, an Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurant — a nice chance to chat and enjoy some really good food! 🍲

Application deadline in less than a week! Apply to join the Uppsala Human Evolution team!

The Early Bantu Expansion into Central Africa | 9 | New Data and Insig Central Africa hosts populations characterised by diverse linguistic, cultural, and genetic backgrounds. In this study, we have generated new genome-wide

Thrilled to announce that Routledge has published our book chapter in #OpenAccess. This chapter is part of an outstanding 740-page book that examines the early events of the Bantu expansion in Africa using multidisciplinary perspectives, including genetics. www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-...

I'm thrilled to announce that our featured article, "Herders from the Green Sahara", was published in the 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 magazine. Another great collaboration with Viktor Černý and Carina Schlebusch.

Free access here: livejohnshopkins-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/person...

Wide-scale geographical analysis of genetic ancestry in the South African Coloured population - BMC Biology Background The South African Coloured (SAC) population, a prominent admixed population in South Africa, reflects centuries of migration, admixture, and historical segregation. Descendants of local Kho...

A big congrats to Imke Lankheet + co-authors for this new publication on genetic ancestry in the South African Coloured population. We reveal fine-scale regional differences in SAC, shaped by complex history and social factors @schlebuschgroup.bsky.social

bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Interested in investigating human history? Still a chance to join us in Uppsala as a junior or senior fellow! Closing date soon!

Great to attend the #HumanEvo25 conference with Cesar Fortes-Lima and @a-solernunez.bsky.social, who gave an excellent talk and poster presentation representing the Schlebusch group and @humanevouu.bsky.social!

A popular science feature now available on our recently published Fulani study in The Conversation - Africa!

Revisiting the African mtDNA Landscape: A Continental Update from Complete Mitochondrial Genomes Africa harbors the richest diversity of mitochondrial DNA lineages, reflecting its central role in human evolutionary history. Early studies of mtDNA variation provided the first genetic evidence for ...

We have a new preprint! Mapping and analyzing nearly 5,000 full mitogenomes across Africa.
First major update on mtDNA distribution since Salas et al. 2002, "The making of the African mtDNA landscape." Congrats to Imke Lankheet and thanks to all collaborators!

📄 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Great opportunity! Contribute to HPGG’s Special Issue on "Population Genetics Methods and Software"—a perfect chance to co-author with students & make your tools more accessible to the community. 🎓Collaboration and mentorship!

Our new paper on local adaptation in Andean populations is out in HPGG! We identify genetic adaptations that help Andeans live in one of the world's most challenging environments. Please have a look :)

"Human adaptation in the Andes Mountains"
doi.org/10.47248/hpg...

The Call is open: Human Past #Fellowships 2026-27. Deadline: 2 June 2025. centerforthehumanpast.se/index.php/20... #opportunity #humanpast #research @haam-community.bsky.social @cschlebu.bsky.social #genetics #linguistics #archaeology #indoeuropean #bantu #austronesian @vetenskapsradet.bsky.social

Join us at the Wellcome Genome Campus for exciting talks and interdisciplinary insights on Human Evolution! Abstract deadline is Tuesday, 4 March (tomorrow!), and in-person registration deadline is 31 March. Looking forward to meet-up there!

bit.ly/3ZbZgNJ

To all human popgen colleagues - please support HPGG with your submissions! It is a cost free Open Access journal committed to publish quality human popgen studies.