Mattias Sherman

This is what I find with my students, too. 90% of them think that AI is net bad, and none argue with my intro lecture about the objective harms of AI. And yet we get emails in our inbox from the university twice a month promoting AI tools.

We're losing something that cannot be recovered.
Most people don't understand what we are losing.
There's a lot wrong with academia, but burning it all down is not the best answer. 🧪

Ageing dogs and wolves using x-ray micro-computed tomography (μ-CT): an application to canid remains from the Junction Site, Alberta, Canada Evidence for relationships between people, dogs, and wolves can be found across much of the world. Methods for studying archaeological canid remains, …

Good to see our former MSc Osteoarchaeology student, @Megan Bieraugle, keeping busy! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

AI doing by exactly what human recruitment panels do

Do you know someone with age-related macular degeneration??? Guess what, there's unexpected good news!

We’re looking for a motivated & curious researcher to join our team as a PhD candidate! You’ll work with Prof. Bridget Waller, Dr. Annika Bremhorst, & me at the Dog Cognition Centre, UoP.
Are you fascinated by the dog–human bond & dog-human communication? 🐶
Interested? Get in touch with me.

Who are our ancestors and why does it matter? | A Question of Science Professor Brian Cox and our expert panel are talking all things ancient DNA.

Nice discussion! www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-10...

Join us on 31st October to celebrate Día de los Muertos with some #ancientDNA from Mexico! Two very exciting talks on 🦣 and 🪴, by Federico Sánchez-Quinto and Marcela Sandoval-Velasco of LIIGH UNAM.

Note the later 3pm London time!

#aDNA @aarc-community.bsky.social

NEW method! eComp is a new, #evolution-informed #compression method🗜️ for multiple #sequence alignments (#MSAs)...that outperforms gzip!

Unlike gzip's row-based compression, eComp implements a simple #column-based solution for compression, following how biological information is stored in MSAs

Relationships of Denisova 25 to archaic and modern humans.

High-quality Denisovan genome, reconstructed from a molar found at Denisova Cave. Belonged to a man who lived ~200 Kya

A high-coverage genome from a 200,000-year-old Denisovan 🏺🧪
S. Peyregne, @benceviola.bsky.social, @elenaessel.bsky.social, @janetk.bsky.social et al
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A high-coverage genome from a 200,000-year-old Denisovan Denisovans, an extinct sister group of Neandertals who lived in Eastern Eurasia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene, are known only from a handful of skeletal remains and limited genetic data, incl...

A hearty Denisovan stew ripe with stories of mixing and more mixing, even with a third more ‘archaic’ hominid.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Applications are now open for the NERC TREES DLA 2026 PhD cohort. If you’re interested in conducting high-impact research in environmental science via an advertised or self-proposed project please take a look: www.trees-dla.ac.uk/news/applica.... #PhDprogramme #PhD #genomics #evolution

Dire wolves might, but @itiscolossal.bsky.social didn't mutate any genes involved in behavior so their GMO grey wolves can't...

One week left to apply!

#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 🧵

As coding gets more plug and play, it becomes IMPERATIVE for us as educators to teach fundamentals about what the statistical tests are comparing and assumptions.

Students might not need to understand how to code things up, but they should understand what the snippets are doing and why

PhD-opening in our ancient genomics lab this year, apply below!

We work on:
📜 Genetic history integrated with archaeology and history
📈 Natural selection and trait genetics
🐺 Evolutionary genomics of dogs and wolves
🦠 Ancient pathogen genomics
💀 Hominin evolution and ancient proteomics

As a theoretical cosmologist, I'm frequently asked "what is the benefit of the work you're doing for people's lives?" Nothing I work on makes money or cures disease.

There are a few different answers one can give, at various levels of "convincing" / "actually relevant to why the work is done."

1/🧵

🦴🧬🦴🧬🦴

Abstract submission is now open for the 1st International Conference on Palaeogenomics!

June 23–26 2026, in Stockholm.

Join researchers from across the field for 4 days and >100 talks (+ poster sessions)!

Submit abstracts here 👉
icp2026.palaeogenomics.org/abstracts/

Deadline: Nov 30th

A lot of people think that every international student admitted means one fewer spot for domestic students, when the opposite is more likely true - the tuition revenue international students bring allows public universities to provide substantial discounts to domestic students, improving access.

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=...

This digitally painted piece honors the survivor spirit of the coyote by tracing its lineage from the first cells of life to the animal trotting our landscapes today. Below the horizon, carefully chosen ancestors mark pivotal moments in adaptation, each contributing to the form and survivor we see today. Above the horizon, Coyote stands alert at the center, framed by both Denver’s skyline and a mountain backdrop, symbols of their ability to thrive in cities as well as wilderness. Embedded in the ground are the skulls and bones of carnivores whose lineages ended long ago, emphasizing Coyote’s persistence in contrast.

"I Contain Multitudes"

This digitally painted piece honors coyote by tracing its lineage from the first cells of life to the animal trotting our cities and the wilderness today.

The thread gives descriptions of all the extinct organisms shown in this piece (not to scale)

🚨 The first HAAM elections are now open!

👥 Meet the candidates: haam-community.github.io/election2025/

🗳️ Cast your vote: forms.gle/6PKTRkqKn57J...

🔒 Voting closes 10 Oct, 23:59 CET!

Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track, Department of Biology, University of San Francisco Job Title: Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track, Department of Biology, University of San Francisco Job Summary: The Department of Biology at the University of San Francisco invites applications for a fu...

Tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Bioinformatics in the Department of Biology at the University of San Francisco
usfca.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/USF_Fu...

So I caved and set up an account here. Not expecting anyone to interact however as this place seems very quiet! I’m here for #AboriginalArchaeology #humanosteology #zooarchaeology
#AustralianArchaeology
#archaeology.
Say hi and give me a follow

We are searching for a Forest Ecophysiologist (tenure track Assistant or Associate Professor) to join the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia Faculty of Forestry. Please share! Details are here: ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/ubcfacultyjobs

Old Goats: 3,000 years of genetic connectivity of the domestic goat in Ireland The domestic goat likely first arrived to the island of Ireland as part of the introduction of agriculture approximately 5,900 years ago, and remains a part of the island's biocultural heritage. Howev...

Very happy to see our pre-print on ancient Irish goat genetics on bioRxiv #aDNA #spiergorm

I want to acknowledge this was only possible through the work of the late Dr. Judith Findlater, along with Prof. Eileen Murphy at @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social.

Our department is adopting a 2-semester core course for entering grad students, 1 semester of grad evolution, 1 semester of ecology. I'd love to see what other depts are doing with equivalent EEB grad core courses, so if you teach one & are willing to share a syllabus & reading list please LMK

Perfect multispecies collaboration example! 😂

If you work with #aDNA in or around London, you might be interested in joining us this Wednesday for a talk from @boothicus.bsky.social on integrating archaeology and ancient DNA, the first of this year's talk series organised by the London aDNA Network! Get in touch if you'd like to come along!