"Tracing the origins of St Helena’s liberated Africans" using isotope data, ancient DNA, and historical records. Xueye Wang, Judy Watson, et al, Hannes Schroeder. July 2026, 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 393(6808). doi: 10.1126/science.aeb3661 Link --> www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Tracing the origins of St Helena’s liberated Africans

In the mid-19th century, St Helena became a key receiving point for Africans “liberated” from illegal slave ships by the British Royal Navy. Of the ~27,000 landed, ~8000 died soon after arrival and we...

science.org

What a fantastic conference dinner we had yesterday at the Golden Hall 🪙 of Stockholms City Hall! 🏫 Even the full-delegate (>380) conference group picture we thought we couldn't pull out, happened organically 📸🎉

♥️ THANK YOU ♥️ We are overwhelmed by the positive comments and are incredibly happy that everyone enjoyed their time in Stockholm! #ICP2026 was only possible with the hard work of the organizing committee and a marvellous team of ECR volunteers 🟠 at @cpgsthlm.bsky.social

The Paleogenomics group at @ull.es had such a blast at the #ICP2026 in Stockholm!

#ICP2026 Stockholm is over, but ICP will return... in 2028! #ICP2028 will be hosted by Trinity College Dublin 🎉☘️🇮🇪

Our late Neandertal paper is officially out! 💀❤️🧬 www.nature.com/articles/s41... It was years in the making, a tremendous feat spearheaded by our PhD student Alba Bossoms Mesa and co-led by @janetk.bsky.social and @benmpeter.bsky.social

So happy and proud to see this paper out in @natcomms.nature.com today! We show that traces of human DNA can persist on cave walls for thousands of years. Absolutely fantastic work by the wonderful Alba Bossoms Mesa at @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social and a great team! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Investigating ancient human DNA preservation on cave walls and in rock art - Nature Communications

Ancient DNA can be preserved on materials from archaeological floor deposits such as bones, sediments and artifacts. Here, the authors investigate whether Palaeolithic wall art can preserve human DNA ...

nature.com

Full house for the first plenary talk of #ICP2026 by Ian Barnes "From a simple beginning to endless forms" aka "Why are we here?"

We are looking forward to welcoming you all to Stockholm next week for #ICP2026! We have updated our webpage with some important practical info, as well as some hints and tips to get the most out of Stockholm 🇸🇪 Check it out: tinyurl.com/yyyfjh7z

Lethal plague outbreaks in Lake Baikal hunter-gatherers 5,500 years ago www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Lethal plague outbreaks in Lake Baikal hunter-gatherers 5,500 years ago - Nature

Analyses of ancient DNA from hunter-gatherers near Lake Baikal in southeast Siberia around 5,500 years ago indicate that highly virulent Yersinia pestis emerged earlier than previously estimated, far&...

nature.com

The stapes are the smallest bone in the human skeleton and seem to be the best to preserve DNA! Very interesting paper by Sağlıcan, Sevkar et al: genome.cshlp.org/content/earl...

🧬 New paper in Cell! Analysis of 12 cave lion genomes shows that cave lions and modern lions may have diverged more than three times earlier than previously thought – as early as 1.7 million years ago! AND…they interbred when temperatures dropped! Paper: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... 🧵 1/9

Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics@bermaninstitute.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Science Media Amplifies Male Scientists’ Voices Over Female Ones: Analysis of more than 2,500 science stories revealed that men were quoted more often than women, highlighting systemic gender bias in science communication. | The Scientist www.the-scientist.com/science-medi...

The first release of the metAaRCive is out!!! A resource of metadata for published ancient animal genomes, curated by members of @aarc-community.bsky.social - 1518 complete records for its first release! [missing: equids!] github.com/AaRC-Animal-... #adna

Release v26.05.08 · AaRC-Animal-aDNA-Research-Community/metAaRCive

This is the first release of metAaRCive, containing 1518 complete entries. metAaRCive: Overview metAaRCive is a resource of metadata for published ancient animal genomes, curated by members of AaRC...

github.com

Are you screening your ancient DNA study for chromosomal aneuploidies? Or looking for a new way to call genetic sex? Regardless of sequencing data type? Our Bayesian method (implemented in R as RChASM) has now been published in Bioinformatics: doi.org/10.1093/bioi...

Our preprint is now out, looking at genomic history and selection in Britain, with a focus on the Roman and early medieval periods. Comments welcome! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @boothicus.bsky.social @leospeidel.bsky.social @pontus-skoglund.bsky.social

We present DNAharvester 🎉🦴🚜🧬 A pipeline to process highly degraded ancient DNA data that integrates metagenomic filtering, competitive mapping, multiple alignment strategies, reference bias evaluation and much more. GitHub: github.com/NBISweden/DN... Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New paper alert 🚨 A study led by #CPGSthlm researchers found DNA from a bear in 9.6k year old lake sediments. This potentially rewrites the history of brown bears in Scandinavia! 🧬🐻🐾🏔️🧊 Check @officialernst.bsky.social thread 👉 bsky.app/profile/offi... OA article 👉 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Ancient environmental genome reveals a migratory brown bear individual in Early Holocene Scandinavia | PNAS

After the last ice age, species migrated into a newly deglaciated Scandinavia. Brown bear recolonization is thought to have occurred from two direc...

pnas.org

Ernst Johnson@officialernst.bsky.social · 4mo ago

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/...

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.

On this week's #MetagenomicsMonday: #aDNA study 🧬traces the roots of French #wine! 🍇 Roman trade, clonal propagation, and even a medieval grape identical to modern #PinotNoir emerge from 4,000 years of #viticulture. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #SPAAM #archaeobotany #domestication #agriculture

Ancient DNA reveals 4000 years of grapevine diversity, viticulture and clonal propagation in France - Nature Communications

Here, the authors present aDNA from 49 grape pips spanning the Bronze Age to Medieval period in France and surrounding areas. They find evidence of long-distance exchange of domestic varieties…

nature.com

Genome-wide genealogies reveal deep admixtures forming modern humans www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Can you believe that until now there were more genomes sequenced for the woolly mammoth than for living African elephants? Today, we bring you the first genomic, continent-scale analyses of 232 high-quality genomes of both species, the savanna and forest elephant. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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/...

Ancient environmental genome reveals a migratory brown bear individual in Early Holocene Scandinavia | PNAS

After the last ice age, species migrated into a newly deglaciated Scandinavia. Brown bear recolonization is thought to have occurred from two direc...

pnas.org

When did people in northern Europe first adopt animal husbandry? #NationalFarmAnimalsDay 🏺 #Archaeology Isotope analysis of animal remains from Swifterbant 🇳🇱 suggests livestock management was practised in the Dutch wetlands over 200 years earlier than expected. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

Kevin Wilbraham@kpw1453.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Mid-13th century door from the undercroft at Wells Cathedral in Somerset. 📸 My own. #AdoorableThursday #WellsCathedral

We are looking forward to welcoming you to Stockholm in only 83 days 😍 Our conference will be packed with exciting oral presentations 💁‍♂️, poster sessions 🧾, coffee breaks ☕, and pre-conference workshops 👷‍♀️ Take a look at the preliminary program ⬇️⬇️⬇️

A few years ago, using palaeoproteomics, we identified a tiny hominin bone from Denisova Cave and named it Denisova 17 (D17). A rather unremarkable sliver. At the time, I wondered, could it be Denny’s sibling (the Neanderthal/Denisovan hybrid we had just reported)? Well, turns out: no. 🧵1/4

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

Giraffes have long necks and a long history of scientists debating their taxonomy! 1 species with 9 subspecies had generally been accepted, but whole genome data from 50 giraffes from all previously recognized subspecies support 4 species and 7 subspecies! #2026MMM doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.04.033