Harald Ringbauer

SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW
PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going—
SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT
PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti—
SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE

The dispersal of domestic cats from North Africa to Europe around 2000 years ago The domestic cat (Felis catus) descends from the African wildcat Felis lybica lybica. Its global distribution alongside humans testifies to its successful adaptation to anthropogenic environments. Unc...

What's that? 5 ancient doggy papers in 10 days is too many dogs?

Can I interest you in some cats?

Perhaps a complete retelling of cat domestication, dispersal, and replacement across Eurasia?

As you wish!

Science
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cell Genomics
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...

GitHub - alanrogers/popgen: A course on population genetics A course on population genetics. Contribute to alanrogers/popgen development by creating an account on GitHub.

I taught (and co-taught) a course on human population genetics from 2000-2024. Having retired, I'm now making all the course materials public: github.com/alanrogers/p... #popgen #evbio

Researchers say they have verified and sequenced Hitler’s DNA – and found a genetic disorder | CNN Analysis of Adolf Hitler’s DNA reveals he may have had a rare genetic disorder that can delay puberty.

As I told the CNN, without details and data it is not possible to assess the claims.

More importantly, the scientific value of this media campaign, balanced against the possible stigmatization of individuals with these real conditions today, is highly questionable. edition.cnn.com/2025/11/13/s...

Putting aside the deeper issues of why this analysis was done and how it has been promoted, the choice to broadcast a tv show before releasing a preprint should make people skeptical of the results. How can one be sure of their scientific claims?

Revisiting the Evolution of Lactase Persistence: Insights from South Asian Genomes Lactase persistence (LP), the ability to digest lactose from milk into adulthood, is a classic example of natural selection in humans. Multiple mutations upstream of the LCT gene are associated with L...

Exciting new study led by @ekerdoncuff.bsky.social and @meaghanmarohn.bsky.social on the evolution of Lactase Persistence in South Asia.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Eight millennia of continuity of a previously unknown lineage in Argentina - Nature A previously unsampled deep lineage in central Argentina was discovered that had distinctive genetic drift by 8,500 bp and persisted as the main Native American ancestry component in the reg...

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

New paper led by Javier Maravall on a time transect from ancient Argentina.

✨Thrilled to share that the first chapter of my Ph.D. thesis is NOW OUT in Science Advances! ✨🥳🎉 🧬. This couldn't have been possible without the support of everyone involved
@genscapelab.bsky.social, @nirajrai.bsky.social, ‪@cdelafc.bsky.social‬, @jaurban2204.bsky.social, @mootspoints.bsky.social

Jasmin Rees PhD chapter as a paper just out at the AJHG @ajhgnews.bsky.social, with Sergi Castellano, who first envisioned the study. Jas investigated signatures of human local genetic adaptation in hundreds of micronutrient-associated genes.

Excited to share that I’ve started as Associate Professor at the Technical University of Denmark! 🧑‍🎓

I also received an a NNF Emerging Investigator grant to use genomics + machine learning to study extinction.

👉 PhD & Postdoc positions coming soon — follow for updates!
Reposts appreciated 🙏

Youths buried in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries carried West African DNA Despite bearing remarkably far-flung genetic origins, a girl and young man were buried just like their peers

Anglo-Saxons with West African roots: DNA analysis of 7th century burials reported in @antiquity.ac.uk today reveals long-distance connections reached across continents and cultures. Read about it @science.org:

😅😅 good one and good summary!

Population history of the Southern Caucasus Archaeogenetic study reveals this region’s population history in unprecedented detail, generating a DNA transect spanning nearly 5,000 years

#Population history of the Southern #Caucasus: Archaeogenetic study generates #DNA transect spanning nearly 5,000 years. In @cellpress.bsky.social by Eirini Skourtanioti, Xiaowen Jia, @hringbauer.bsky.social & an intl. team. #PopulationGenetics More: tinyurl.com/8r39ywfu & doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

Population history of the Southern Caucasus Archaeogenetic study reveals this region’s population history in unprecedented detail, generating a DNA transect spanning nearly 5,000 years

Read more in the press release by @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social.

Big thanks to the international research team behind this work, crucially also from Georgia. 🇬🇪🙏

And big congratulations to Eirini Skourtanioti and Xiaowen Jia - the dynamic co-first author team! 👏 🎊

www.eva.mpg.de/press/news/a...

The genetic history of the Southern Caucasus from the Bronze Age to the Early Middle Ages: 5,000 years of genetic continuity despite high mobility Ancient DNA from the Southern Caucasus reveals remarkable genetic continuity, with some mixing from Anatolia/Iran and the Eurasian Steppe, and shows that even periods of urbanization and increased mob...

Our aDNA time transect centered on modern Georgia is out! 🧬

Genetic continuity over 5000 years, but some Bronze Age gene flow and urban outliers since Antiquity - including some with artificially deformed skulls 💀 linked by IBD segments to Asian nomads.

#aDNA #PopGen

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Fascinating! The genetic evidence actually also points to later inter-island contacts:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Was Rapa Nui less isolated than thought? ⏬️
There is also genetic evidence of late inter-island contacts: When re-modelling the Ioannidis et al 2020 split dates with a corrected model we show that their genetic "settlement" dates actually reflect later movements www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

#SMBE2025 Symposium 27: Population genetics through time session B

🔗 smbe2025.scimeeting.cn/en/web/program/25070

‘Dragon Man’ skull belongs to mysterious human relative At long last, scientists have a nearly complete cranium from hominins known as Denisovans

At long last, scientists have a nearly complete cranium from hominins known as Denisovans. scim.ag/4e7QdT4

Senior Research Associate in Population Genomics (RA2327) in University of East Anglia | UEA View details and apply for this Senior Research Associate in Population Genomics (RA2327) vacancy in University of East Anglia. Faculty of Science School of Biological Sciences Senior Research A...

A 4-year postdoc position in population genomics is available in my group at the University of East Anglia, to work on a project sequencing a thousand fox genomes across rural and urban environments in the UK.

vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/15...

🧵1/n ✨🔮✨ Meet (y)our instructors of this year's #HAAMsummerschool 👇 #aDNA #course #humanpopgen

Population-scale inheritance analysis of 858,635 individuals reveals North Sea migration from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution The North Sea's historical migrations have impacted the genetic structure of its neighbouring populations. We analysed haplotype sharing among 858,635 modern individuals from Denmark and Britain to in...

We have updated our preprint about 850,000 person UK-Danish haplotype sharing - sheding light on the rich history each person carries with them in their DNA and comparing this to historical records. Xiaolei Zhang postdoc in my group led this work. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Changes to the 2026 and 2027 Work Programmes With the launch of the competitions for grants under ERC Work Programme 2026 in July of this year, several changes to the submission of applications and the evaluation of proposals will apply. The mai...

Planning to apply for #research #funding from the ERC?

From the next application rounds, expect changes to the:

• proposal structure
• evaluation process
• extra funding you can request
• eligibility for Starting & Consolidator #Grants (from 2027)

More 👇 europa.eu/!RPHWvv

Now published in PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Clothing—not agriculture—helped spread a tick disease 5000 years ago New study of a pathogen’s Bronze Age spread challenges longstanding links between disease and early agriculture

Scientists used to think diseases that jump from animals to people really took off when people started domesticating cattle, sheep and goats 11,000 years ago. A new look at ancient bacterial DNA in @science.org by @poojaswali.bsky.social and colleagues suggests the pivotal moment came much later.

Discover our results of the largest ancient DNA study ever conducted on a single burial site: 400 skeletons from the Belgian city Sint-Truiden (8th–18th century). A unique glimpse into 1000 years of genetic history. (1/9) @kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social

Ancient DNA poses puzzle of why Phoenicians spread culture but not their genes Nature - Phoenician civilization thrived across the Mediterranean for more than 1,000 years.

This ancient Middle Eastern civilization that developed an early alphabet spread its culture far and wide — but not its DNA
https://go.nature.com/3Rx0f63

Yeah, the North America parallel came to our mind too! It's a great example of culture&language being not tied to one's genetic ancestry.

Thanks @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social and @pontus-skoglund.bsky.social 🙏

Initially, we had more Sicilian outliers genetically from the Eastern Mediterranean, but C14 dating always put them to Roman times (see PCA above - a interesting substory).

Seeing the Punic cline "emerge" was quite exciting!