New preprint out by PhD student @madshartmann.bsky.social 🥳 We present SCAR, the perfect tool for assessing the impact of #ancientDNA damage on analyses Validation tests show how damage massively impacts heterozygosity estimates 😨 Check it out here www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

SCAR: Controlled mutations, ancient DNA damage, and fragmentation of fasta and fastq sequences

Summary: Controlled modification of sequencing data is important for reproducible benchmarking, particularly when evaluating analyses affected by read fragmentation, divergent reference genomes and an...

biorxiv.org

We have new TikTalks next week already! Join us next Friday to hear about sheep and pipelines!

Okay a week left! Don't forget to sign up for the workshop! All about #metAaRCive with @anders-bergstrom.bsky.social and @ddj-sa.bsky.social

AaRC@aarc-community.bsky.social · 2mo ago

@anders-bergstrom.bsky.social and @ddj-sa.bsky.social are hosting a workshop on September 17th to walk you through metAaRCive—from what it is to how to contribute. Open for sign-ups: docs.google.com/forms/d/1E4k...

Happy to share our new paper on DNA preservation in the Caribbean: Open access: doi.org/10.1098/rsos... 🌎 Summaries in Español, Français, Kreyòl Ayisyen and Kréyòl Gwadloup: shorturl.at/FMHNI 🧵👇 @jazminrm.bsky.social @bitesizedna.bsky.social

Ancient DNA preservation in the Caribbean

Abstract. Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis has transformed how we study human migration, species dispersals and environmental change, but poor preservation rema

doi.org

Come join us to learn how to contribute to, and use, metAaRCive, a community-curated database of published ancient animal genomes! We'll also cover best-practises for metadata reporting in #aDNA studies and how to archive sequence data on the ENA! Sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/1E4k...

AaRC@aarc-community.bsky.social · 2mo ago

@anders-bergstrom.bsky.social and @ddj-sa.bsky.social are hosting a workshop on September 17th to walk you through metAaRCive—from what it is to how to contribute. Open for sign-ups: docs.google.com/forms/d/1E4k...

Some casual reading for your Sunday evening, or Monday morning coffee ☕ about our recent paper testing the limits of #ancientDNA recovery in #Africa. Courtesy of @africa.theconversation.com, myself and Eline Lorenzen. theconversation.com/discovery-of...

Discovery of ancient DNA from antelope fossils in South Africa opens a new window on the past

Researchers managed to extract DNA from African fossils dating back to the last ice age.

theconversation.com

Interested in pursuing a #PhD or #MPhil on #ancientDNA in #Antarctica? Check out this fully-funded research position based here at #AdelaideUniversity here in South Australia! Full details attached below. Applications close 30 September. Please repost and share widely!

Proud to share my latest paper on genetic indicators. Aligning with existing processes such as Red Listing, truly enables these indicators to be mainstreamed en masse. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #consgen #monitoring #gbf #genetic-indicators @cgsg.bsky.social

Mainstreaming genetic diversity indicators through the IUCN Red List process: A national-scale assessment of South African mammals

Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity are required to report on progress towards the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF…

sciencedirect.com

🚨 Paper alert: if you are working on #metagenomics, particularly from #ancientDNA, and want to get into de novo #assembly, check out our latest work: 📄 De novo assembly and authentication of ancient DNA metagenomes with nf-core/mag (journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...) (1/4)

De novo assembly and authentication of ancient DNA metagenomes with nf-core/mag

Author summary Advancements in genomic sequencing analyses are increasingly allowing researchers to reconstruct the genomes of microbial ‘dark matter’—those microbial species that are difficult to iso...

journals.plos.org

The next AaRCademy workshop is coming up on Thursday September 17th! This time @anders-bergstrom.bsky.social and @ddj-sa.bsky.social will dive into #aDNA metadata reporting, archiving data in the ENA and the metAaRCive database, a community-led initiative of curating ancient animal genomes.

AaRC@aarc-community.bsky.social · 2mo ago

@anders-bergstrom.bsky.social and @ddj-sa.bsky.social are hosting a workshop on September 17th to walk you through metAaRCive—from what it is to how to contribute. Open for sign-ups: docs.google.com/forms/d/1E4k...

🧵 New preprint: Have you ever tried to perform molecular clock dating of ancient mitogenomes using BEAST? Have you struggled using manual tools to create your input files, run your analyses and extract your results? We hope our pipeline provides a solution to this: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

MitoDate: a Nextflow pipeline for molecular clock dating and phylogenetic inference using ancient mitogenomes

Summary Ancient DNA studies are increasingly targeting samples that are beyond the limit of radiocarbon dating (>50 thousand years old) and are often difficult or impossible to date using other geochr...

biorxiv.org

Come join us to learn how to contribute to, and use, metAaRCive, a community-curated database of published ancient animal genomes! We'll also cover best-practises for metadata reporting in #aDNA studies and how to archive sequence data on the ENA! Sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/1E4k...

AaRC@aarc-community.bsky.social · 2mo ago

@anders-bergstrom.bsky.social and @ddj-sa.bsky.social are hosting a workshop on September 17th to walk you through metAaRCive—from what it is to how to contribute. Open for sign-ups: docs.google.com/forms/d/1E4k...

Excellent article about our recent paper by @killgrove.bsky.social in @livescience.com, covering our exciting finding that DNA can be recovered from Late Pleistocene remains in Africa! #aDNA #Africa #genetics #palaeontology

Live Science@livescience.com · 3mo ago

Scientists show that DNA can last for up to 50,000 years in Africa ‪—‬ much longer than previously thought www.livescience.com/archaeology/...

New aDNA paper on Eurasian moose 🫎 @popovicdani.bsky.social @mateuszbaca.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Phylogeographic and demographic responses of Eurasian moose to climate change since the Late Pleistocene - Heredity

Heredity - Phylogeographic and demographic responses of Eurasian moose to climate change since the Late Pleistocene

nature.com

I am recruiting a PhD student (fully funded, 4yrs) to analyze modern 🧬 and ancient 🦴 genomic data from humans and domestic animals 🐑 Please share, I am happy to chat at #ICP2026 or #SMBE2026 this summer www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

Super cool resource! Something I wish existed a couple of years ago, so thanks for making it happen @anders-bergstrom.bsky.social & members of @aarc-community.bsky.social! There are still many more ancient animal genomes to add & we need more hands! If you're keen to help us out, see below 😊✌️

Anders Bergström@anders-bergstrom.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Need metadata for published ancient animal genomes? The metAaRCive project has recently made its first public release, containing metadata for 1518 published genomes across a range of species, curated by members of @aarc-community.bsky.social Find the release here: github.com/AaRC-Animal-...

The oldest DNA retrieved from an animal fossil is ~1.6 million years old - a mammoth from icy Siberia where cold temperatures preserve DNA well. But have you ever wondered how long #ancientDNA is preserved in animal remains from sunny & warm Africa? Well, wonder now more! doi.org/10.1016/j.qu...

Free online workshop for estimating relatedness from genomic data! Great opportunity especially for students and other early career researchers (but everyone is welcome)! #AaRCademy #popgen

AaRC@aarc-community.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Wanna learn how to explore your genomic data to know how related your samples and populations are to each other? Come and join us and @jolijnerven.bsky.social on our next #AaRCademy workshop! April 16h at 14:00 CET!

Lessons learned: Recommendations for reproducible paleogenomic data analyses www.cell.com/ajhg/abstrac...

Lessons learned: Recommendations for reproducible paleogenomic data analyses

Souilmi et al. propose essential guidelines to improve the reproducibility of paleogenomic data analysis. As ancient DNA research often relies on the destructive sampling of finite resources, these re...

cell.com

The latest issue of #G3journal features work from @trstngnthr.bsky.social, @amygoldberg.bsky.social, @jgschraiber.bsky.social, where they benchmarked methods for estimating ancestry proportions under mapping bias and present adjusted genotype-likelihoods to mitigate its impact. buff.ly/9ET69CA

New job opportunity in our project! Want to join us — or know someone who could? More details coming soon. The PhD will be supervised by Cristina Valdiosera and Colin Smith #JobOpening #ERC #Spain #UBU #México #PhD #PhDposition #Mestizaje #stableisotopes

Our method, GENome EXogenous (GENEX) sequence detection, for identifying microbial-like regions in eukaryotic reference genomes is online in GigaScience track.smtpsendmail.com/9032119/c?p=...

I had an idea—just a hunch, really— on how to link #Popgen and #eDNA. I was lucky to be in a lab that embraced curiosity, open discussion, and let me run with it. One year, many equations, and a few too many simulations later, here’s the result: 🧬 Preprint now live: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Estimating Organism Abundance Using Within-Sample Haplotype Frequencies of eDNA Metabarcoding Data

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding provides powerful insights into species presence and community composition, but remains limited in its ability to quantify species abundance or structure. Here, ...

doi.org

I use BHL every single day in my research and teaching. I could not write my books or articles without it, I don't know what my students would do without it, and I would have to radically rethink my career without it. This is more critical with funding cuts. Please, please someone support BHL.

Trevor A. Branch@trevorabranch.bsky.social · last yr.

Foundations: please step up and take over the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). This is an absolutely essential scanned archive of all of the old journals and books from the 1500s to about 1920. Has been indispensable for my research. about.biodiversitylibrary.org/call-for-sup...

In an unconscionable decision, the Smithsonian Institute has decided to no longer support the Biodiversity Heritage Library from 1 Jan 2026. Please someone step up and take it over.

Trevor A. Branch@trevorabranch.bsky.social · last yr.

Foundations: please step up and take over the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). This is an absolutely essential scanned archive of all of the old journals and books from the 1500s to about 1920. Has been indispensable for my research. about.biodiversitylibrary.org/call-for-sup...

GenDivRange: A global dataset of geo-referenced population genetic diversity across species ranges #popgen #consgen www.nature.com/articles/s41...

GenDivRange: A global dataset of geo-referenced population genetic diversity across species ranges - Scientific Data

Scientific Data - GenDivRange: A global dataset of geo-referenced population genetic diversity across species ranges

nature.com

Everyone should know about GBIF. It's an international biodiversity data aggregator. Museum collections, apps like eBird and iNaturalist, published datasets from the technical literature, all in one place. www.gbif.org

Today was truly inspiring. Something happened that we’ve never seen before, you made noise in places that rarely see protests like this. Communities across traditionally conservative areas hosted historic turnouts.

Right Now, most of the American can relate to this message from the 90's.

If you have a public platform & spent years calming everyone down, telling us Trump was not a danger,was not racist, & arguing that the best way to deal w/Trump was to laugh at him, berated ppl who used the word fascist, insisted that the two parties are the same, admit YOU WERE WRONG.