New preprint! "Joint dog and wolf genealogies reveal the evolution of the canine genome" We build genealogies of dogs and wolves to find two strong mutation-rate pulses, GC-biased gene conversion, selection, and inter-species gene flow shaping the canine genome. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Joint dog and wolf genealogies reveal the evolution of the canine genome

Dogs and their closest extant relative, the grey wolf, diverged around 30k years ago, but have since experienced complex histories of gene flow involving other canids, adaptive pressures due to close ...

biorxiv.org

Wrote a short piece about the opportunities and challenges of pushing ancient pathogen genomics into a new frontier: the zooarchaeological record. Pretty excited about what is going to come. www.science.org/eprint/MSG3Z...

Tracking the roots of zoonoses

Ancient pathogen DNA from animals elucidates the origin and evolution of infectious diseases

science.org

Joint dog and wolf genealogies reveal the evolution of the canine genome https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.18.729863v1

I've decided to do a Bluesky run-through of my Animal Kingdom book: 100 more posts about the inner workings of natural history, biodiversity and evolution, told through 100 museum objects. A couple per day, starting… now! 🧵 www.thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/...

Animal Kingdom

From a single beginning, countless millions of stories from the animal kingdom have – and continue to – run their course. Museum objects allow us to investigate some of those stories. Animal Kingdom j...

thehistorypress.co.uk

"Ancient antibodies and the hidden history of infection" by Dr. Christiana Scheib - join us (online) on the 18th June @14.00h (CEST) for a new, engaging talk of the Human Palaeosystems seminar series #MPI_GEA @elliescerri.bsky.social www.gea.mpg.de/223280/human...

🦟Infectious disease has shaped the deep history of our species, as new research co-authored by members of our Evolutionary Ecology Group reveals. @eegcam.bsky.social @mikleonardi.bsky.social @ceciliapad.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

University of Cambridge@cam.ac.uk · 3mo ago

Malaria was fundamental in shaping the course of human evolution, @camzoology.bsky.social researchers have found. Between 74,000 and 5,000 years ago, early humans in Africa avoided high-risk malaria areas, shaping the population structure seen today. Read more 👉 https://bit.ly/4tUdOxe

Malaria was fundamental in shaping the course of human evolution, @camzoology.bsky.social researchers have found. Between 74,000 and 5,000 years ago, early humans in Africa avoided high-risk malaria areas, shaping the population structure seen today. Read more 👉 https://bit.ly/4tUdOxe

🚨FULLY FUNDED PHD POSITION!🚨 If you are interested in trying to answer the question of "How did climate shape the movements, interactions, and evolution of hominin populations?" Come join my lab at @humanorigins.bsky.social 🧬🧪 deadline 7th of June ⬇️ uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...

#newpaper 🦟👣 We show how #malaria shaped human #distribution for the last 74k years www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Congrats to @margheritac17.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social and the whole gang (see below). A special shoutout to Martin & Ondrej Pelanek for the great cover pic 😍

Malaria shaped human spatial organization for the past 74 thousand years

Malaria has shaped human habitat choice, exchange, and dispersal since the late Pleistocene in sub-Saharan Africa.

science.org

I am so happy to share our #newpaper on how human #distribution in #Africa was shaped by #malaria for tens of thousands of years. A wonderful work led by @margheritac17.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social and @eegcam.bsky.social. I loved contributing! #prehistory #humanevolution #disease 1/2

Malaria shaped human spatial organization for the past 74 thousand years

Malaria has shaped human habitat choice, exchange, and dispersal since the late Pleistocene in sub-Saharan Africa.

science.org

If you want to know more about our study on the impact of #malaria on human #distribution for the last 74k years go check this great thread by @elliescerri.bsky.social! 🦟👣 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Malaria shaped human spatial organization for the past 74 thousand years

Malaria has shaped human habitat choice, exchange, and dispersal since the late Pleistocene in sub-Saharan Africa.

science.org

Eleanor Scerri@elliescerri.bsky.social · 4mo ago

1/5 Well over three years of work and I’m thrilled to see it out today in Science Advances: the cover feature no less! Using an innovative pipeline, we show that malaria shaped the spatial organization of human groups in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 74,000 years. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1/5 Well over three years of work and I’m thrilled to see it out today in Science Advances: the cover feature no less! Using an innovative pipeline, we show that malaria shaped the spatial organization of human groups in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 74,000 years. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Malaria shaped human spatial organization for the past 74 thousand years

Malaria has shaped human habitat choice, exchange, and dispersal since the late Pleistocene in sub-Saharan Africa.

science.org

🦟 Out and on a shiny new cover of Science Advances: we use a novel approach to study malaria impact on early human groups - malaria wasn't just a threat, it shaped human habitat choice in sub-Saharan Africa in the past 74,000 years. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Eleanor Scerri@elliescerri.bsky.social · 4mo ago

1/5 Well over three years of work and I’m thrilled to see it out today in Science Advances: the cover feature no less! Using an innovative pipeline, we show that malaria shaped the spatial organization of human groups in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 74,000 years. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Discover how ancient DNA and modern genomics can trace pathogen evolution 🦠 join us and @lucyvandorp.bsky.social tomorrow (online): www.gea.mpg.de/179333/uncov...

We are happy to share the programme of speakers for our global symposium on lithic technology 🪨🔎 There are just a few spaces left for in-person participation! DM for more information. You can join us online via this Zoom registration link: eu02web.zoom-x.de/webinar/regi...

#newpreprint: "Climate Shaped the Global Population Structure of Leopards and their Extinction in Europe": www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...! Leopards are charming big cats but there are many mysteries around them. Thread 🧵

Happening today! Join us at 2pm (CET) on Zoom ‼️

Margherita Colucci@margheritac17.bsky.social · 10mo ago

The seminar series is back! Don't miss the FIRST talk of the 2025/26 Human Palaeosystems in focus - the perfect way to get inspired for the new academic year ahead ➡️ www.gea.mpg.de/177655/the-e...

The seminar series is back! Don't miss the FIRST talk of the 2025/26 Human Palaeosystems in focus - the perfect way to get inspired for the new academic year ahead ➡️ www.gea.mpg.de/177655/the-e...

Our paper Genomic diversity of the African malaria vector Anopheles funestus was published in Science today! It features inversions, selection in action, museum specimens and putative new ecotypes. doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Genomic diversity of the African malaria vector Anopheles funestus

Anopheles funestus s.s. is a major human malaria vector across Africa. To study its evolution, especially under vector control pressure, we sequenced 656 modern specimens (collected 2014 to 2018) and ...

doi.org

marilou boddé@mariloumercedes.bsky.social · 2y ago

Preprint is out! We investigated the genomic diversity and evolutionary history of Anopheles funestus mosquitoes, one of the main species transmitting human malaria across Africa. Here’s a visual summary. Art by @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social . 1/8 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

News in the history of molecular biology. The Science History Institute in Philadelphia has acquired a huge archive of correspondence and other scientific material from the pioneers of molecular biology (Franklin, Klug, Perutz, Delbrück etc, with items from Crick and Watson, too). 1/n

History of Molecular Biology Collection

This unparalleled collection includes Rosalind Franklin's historic 'Photo 51,' which revealed the double-helix structure of DNA.

sciencehistory.org

Today! Don’t miss it 😊

Lucy Timbrell@lucytimbrell96.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Join us on Wednesday for our final webinar of series by @jcsvenning.bsky.social on: “Deep-time, large-scale perspectives on biodiversity and ecosystems: implications for biosphere stewardship in the Anthropocene.” More information and link to register here: www.gea.mpg.de/168423/deep-...

Thank you @prelights.bsky.social & Alejandra Leffer's group for choosing our preprint on @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social and for this chance to talk about human- #malaria coevolution!🦟 @eegcam.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social @MPI_GEA

preLights@prelights.bsky.social · 12mo ago

The distribution of early human settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa might have been influenced by avoidance of mosquitoes that spread malaria A new #prelight of Alejandra Leffer's group talks about the preprint by @margheritac17.bsky.social , and the team.

Very pleased to see our paper published online at Climate of the Past: cp.copernicus.org/articles/21/... We present model-data comparisons of Late Quaternary climate across the Northern Hemisphere, showing that increasing model resolution has little net effect on coherence with pollen proxies 😊

More is not always better: delta-downscaling climate model outputs from 30 to 5 min resolution has minimal impact on coherence with Late Quaternary proxies

Abstract. Both proxies and models provide key resources to explore how palaeoenvironmental changes may have impacted diverse biotic communities and cultural processes. While proxies are thought to pro...

cp.copernicus.org

New paper in collaboration with @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social and @jblinkhorn.bsky.social, with several of us involved (@mikleonardi.bsky.social @margheritac17.bsky.social @andreavpozzi.bsky.social) shows that downscaling palaeoclimate models doesn't necessarily improve coherence with proxy data.

Lucy Timbrell@lucytimbrell96.bsky.social · last yr.

Very pleased to see our paper published online at Climate of the Past: cp.copernicus.org/articles/21/... We present model-data comparisons of Late Quaternary climate across the Northern Hemisphere, showing that increasing model resolution has little net effect on coherence with pollen proxies 😊

Last week, Andrea sat down with Dr Chris Smith of Naked Scientists to talk about our paper on the expansion of the human niche 70k year ago: www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/int...

Humanity's road to dominance began earlier than expected

Getting sapient about sapiens...

thenakedscientists.com

We are excited to announce that tidypopgen – a new package for rapid population genetic workflows in R – is now available at evolecolgroup.github.io/tidypopgen/ 🧬💻 Read more in the preprint describing its features here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #popgen #Rpackage #genetics 1/2

Tidy Population Genetics

We provide a tidy grammar of population genetics, facilitating the manipulation and analysis of data on biallelic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). `tidypopgen` scales to very large genetic data...

evolecolgroup.github.io

#newpaper now out in @nature.com! A huge expansion of the human niche in Africa ~70 kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with a unique ecological flexibility. www.nature.com/articles/s41... led by Emily Hallett, @mikleonardi.bsky.social, Andrea Manica, @elliescerri.bsky.social 1/4

Major expansion in the human niche preceded out of Africa dispersal - Nature

Analysis of species distribution models in a pan-African database comprising chronometrically dated archaeological sites over the past 120,000 years shows major expansion in the human niche from 70 ka...

nature.com

Around 70,000 years ago, our ancestors in Africa began exploiting different habitats. Flexibility to survive in deserts to rainforests enabled their successful spread ‘Out of Africa’. Find out more about the study co-led by Andrea Manica @eegcam.bsky.social 👇 bit.ly/4e6i9H7

after 6 years, finally out in @nature.com! ‪Huge expansion of the human #niche in Africa ~70kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with unique ecological flexibility co-led with Emily Hallett @eegcam.bsky.social & @elliescerri.bsky.social #prehistory #humanevolution #paleoecology #SDM

Major expansion in the human niche preceded out of Africa dispersal - Nature

Analysis of species distribution models in a pan-African database comprising chronometrically dated archaeological sites over the past 120,000 years shows major expansion in the human niche from 70 ka...

nature.com

1/5 Why do all non-Africans descended from a group that left Africa 50k ago? In @nature.com we model 120k years of human niche dynamics. From 70ka, a big expansion of the human niche in Africa likely equipped later OOA dispersals with a unique ecological flexibilty. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Major expansion in the human niche preceded out of Africa dispersal - Nature

Analysis of species distribution models in a pan-African database comprising chronometrically dated archaeological sites over the past 120,000 years shows major expansion in the human niche from 70 ka...

nature.com