New preprint led by Hrushikesh Loya, me, and Simon Myers where we introduce GhostBuster! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
The idea is to find all the different ways a target individual relates to reference groups in genealogies, to "bust the ghosts" in our ancestry.
Great example of genetic data in PCA space mirroring geography - this time in Scandinavian lemmings!
Very excited to share our study of an ancient environmental genome extracted from lake sediment! It originates from a brown bear that lived around 9,600 years ago close to the last ice-sheet remains in northern Sweden, and has an unexpected mitochondrial haplogroup. 1/7 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
🏺Broad, enticing discussion of recent archaeogenetics papers that have found evidence for matrlineal organisation of cemeteries at various times/places in the past, including Iron Age Britain, in some cases implying matrilocal residence patterns.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
i firmly believe that kennedy wants preventable diseases to rip through american communities since, in his warped mind, those who survive without vaccines will have proven themselves “healthy.”
A remarkable AP photo of a protester dressed as Lady Liberty being cuffed by helmeted cops. She is looking straight at the camera with a tired "you seeing this shit?" expression.
RIP editorial cartooning.
Yesterday in @nature.com, we presented the earliest evidence of dogs anywhere in the world — three puppies that were buried by Stone Age hunter-gatherers in Türkiye almost 16,000 years ago.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Our new experimental evolution study across 30+ locations using the plant Arabidopsis thaliana —— we direct "see" adaptation and extinction to different climates at the genetic as it happens!
Read it in Science
dx.doi.org/10.1126/scie...
@ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social
@hhmi-science.bsky.social
I really, really need academic organizations to think more critically about travel (conferences, talks, and meetings) during the Trump administration. Sadly, most are not.
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)
“It really makes it look like the reason for grants not being awarded was because of the race of the trainee.” 🧪
“it’s going to get ugly-it always does in these cases-but if there is one woman in a mathematics (or physics, or economics, or chemistry, or computer science) department out there who feels a little bit more empowered to recognize grooming…to insist on boundaries...well, it will have been worth it”
🆕 HAAM Summer School 2026
📅 June 1-5, 2026
📍 Online
💰 Free
🧑🔬🧑💻 For Students & ECR
🔓 Applications open until April 13, 2026!
🔗 Apply here: forms.gle/ckqTgQxnEENJ...
The HAAM summer school is always a fantastic online workshop on popgen analysis via aDNA. Check out the 2026 version!
⬇️💡🧬
1. Horrifying ruling out of the 4th Circuit.
An all-Republican 4th Circuit panel has just ruled that states can compel trans adults to "appreciate their sex" by enacting care bans.
It even directly says that trans adult care bans are legal in the ruling.
Subscribe to support our journalism.
A fabulous paper - fur, feathers and fibres from the Mesolithic. A reminder of why good sampling, excavation records and archives of more that just artefacts really matter.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The University of Viennas STEM Prae-Doc Call is open now! 🎉 @univie.ac.at
We invite outstanding candidates in STEM fields to apply til the 27th of Marchand join an international research environment with structured doctoral training.
You can find all open positions and more here:
Leipzig U and the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) have an open faculty position (W2) in evolutionary population genetics! This position is tenured and comes with generous core funding. We are eager to welcome a new colleague! Deadline March 11.
www.uni-leipzig.de/en/newsdetai...
Want to check your ancient DNA study for chromosomal aneuploidies? RChASM is now available for R, to screen for autosomal and sex chromosomal aneuploidies, such as Down syndrome on data from 0.0014X coverage.
We also wrote a step-by-step tutorial with examples:
jonotuke.github.io/RChASM/artic...
The @scilifelab.se Ancient DNA Unit is recruiting a (permanent) Research Engineer for planning user projects and generating #aDNA 🧬 data:
Application deadline: March 25th 🧪🏺
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
🚨 Registrations are now open for the 4th edition of the course Population Genomics Using Ancient DNA with @arunsethuraman.bsky.social & @cegamorim.bsky.social 🧬
Learn to analyse aDNA data, from data QC to population structure & demographic inference.
www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...
Finally, I vehemently disagree with his dismissal of "hallucinations" or inherent genAI inaccuracy. The one thing I have learned from my work with genAI so far, is that if your work depends on accuracy (and most science does), you are not going to get very far relying on genAI.
Crap
www.online-tribute.com/DavidBotstein
David Botstein passed away. I worked with him at Stanford for a few years in designing and teaching a course on "The Heart". My heart is heavy right now. He was a wonderful mentor.
I continue to be fascinated by the phenomenon whereby an expert engages with any of the LLMs on their field of expertise and is instantly horrified by the wrong answers, and then goes on to use it for things they are not experts in as though it won’t be just as bad for those.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
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..
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...
When archaeologists found the bodies of 77 women and children in an Iron Age grave, they pinned it on a prehistoric plague outbreak. A new analysis reveals it was actually a mass execution. Most bizarre? @mireniraorb.bsky.social's look at their genes shows the victims weren't related. @science.org
