Hannah Moots

A figure depicting continental drift from when Gondwana existed to present day, with continents and countries colored according to the ratite species that occur or occurred on them. Next to that is a cartoon of a phylogeny that we would expect support for if continental drift explained patterns of species occurrence and relatedness. And next to that is a cartoon of the phylogeny supported by the genetic data presented in this paper, which demonstrates that closely related species must have traveled great distances after Gondwana broke up, after which flightlessness evolved, and that this happened more than once.

This paper is a great for teaching phylogenetic trees.

"Ancient DNA reveals elephant birds and kiwi are sister taxa and clarifies ratite bird evolution"

Clearly written. It discusses hypotheses of relatedness among species via continental drift vs genetic data. 🧪

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

New preprint on bioRxiv: an evaluation of epigenetic age-at-death inference in ancient human DNA, highlighting current limitations and future directions.

Excited and proud 😊 to share the final chapter of @hjorvik.bsky.social 's PhD thesis:

Seven Millennia of Human Exploitation drove genomic Changes in Iberian Sheep

Comments welcome! 🧬🧪🏺🐑

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🧵(1/8)

🧬 Now published in Bioinformatics Advances: "pygenstrat: A Python package for EIGENSTRAT data processing" by @dilekopter.bsky.social

Full article available: https://doi.org/10.1093/bioadv/vbag022

Research Fellow in Biomolecular Archaeology at UCL Searching for an academic job? Explore this Research Fellow in Biomolecular Archaeology opening on jobs.ac.uk! Click to view more details and browse other academic jobs.

Job alert! 3 year post doc in my research group at University College London working on Roman Leather via biomolecular archaeology. #ZooMS #stableisotopes

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQJ187/r...

Today on Ancient Office Hours, Dr. Lindsey Mazurek, an Associate Professor of Classics at Indiana University Bloomington, discusses her interests in Roman provincial archaeology, ancient migration, and the implications of migration on social and political dynamics in ancient civilizations.

Ancient DNA reconstruction of late holocene ecosystems within the Carpathian basin from paleo-meanders and archaeological deposits - Scientific Reports The diverse ecology in the Carpathian Basin supported a variety of subsistence strategies throughout the Holocene, ranging from animal husbandry to the management of woodlands, grasslands, and wetland...

Our new study is out!
We analysed DNA preserved in buried river sediments and Neolithic sites (Serbia), uncovering past landscapes and traces of sturgeon populations. Read more about our findings and the challenges in such complex and dynamic contexts: doi.org/10.1038/s415... @mikkelwp.bsky.social

Assessing Ancient DNA Sampling Strategies for Natural Selection Inference in Humans Using Allele Frequency Time Series Data Abstract. The increased availability of genomic data from ancient humans allows estimating the strength of natural selection at a given locus using time se

Interested in using aDNA time-series datasets to estimate selection?

Our study "Assessing Ancient DNA Sampling Strategies for Natural Selection Inference in Humans Using Allele Frequency Time Series Data" is now out in GBE! doi.org/10.1093/gbe/... @genomebiolevol.bsky.social @cegamorim.bsky.social

The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Sculpture For centuries, Westerners have been engaged in an act of collective blindness.

for, um, almost no reason at all, here is Margaret Talbot's 2018 article on how we got the myth of whiteness in classical statuary, with references to @sarahebond.bsky.social: www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...

I meant #MosaicMonday, of course!

Stained glass window at the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi, where I was lucky enough to attend a conference a few weeks ago #mosaismonday

Hundreds of people spelled out the distress signal "SOS" on Bde Maka Ska in Minneapolis on Friday, Jan. 30.

📷️ Provided by Jeff Schad

📣 Work with us! 📣

The McDonald Institute invites applications for the eighth Renfrew Fellowship in archaeology. Named in honour of the Institute's founding Director, Professor Colin Renfrew.

📅 Closing date: 27 February 2026
👉 More info here: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/renfrew...

We are looking for an enthusiast and motivated postdoc to join the Paleogenomics and Evolutionary Biology group at @liigh-unam.bsky.social, to lead a project working with human pre-hispanic samples. Interested candidates send a CV and letter of intent to fsanchez@liigh.unam.mx. Please #RT

Pygenstrat: A Python package for EIGENSTRAT data processing AbstractMotivation. Ancient DNA studies rely heavily on the EIGENSTRAT genotype format (.geno, .ind, .snp) for standard population genetic analyses includi

@dilekopter.bsky.social

The earliest elephant-bone tool from Europe: An unexpected raw material for precision knapping of Acheulean handaxes Europe’s earliest elephant-bone tool sheds light on 500,000-year-old human innovation and cognitive abilities.

Researchers in #ScienceAdvances have found the earliest known elephant bone tool in Europe, dating back to 480,000 years ago. https://scim.ag/49Q4brc

Check out the latest #digitalreview in @saa-aap.bsky.social of @cambup-archaeology.cambridge.org that considers how archaeologists can best engage online, especially with short-form video: doi.org/10.1017/aap....

Population genomics reveals an ancient origin of heartworms in canids - Communications Biology Genomic analyses of heartworms from multiple continents suggest a deeper evolutionary origin in canids than previously recognised, with evidence of both ancient dispersal events and more recent introd...

🔔 New paper from the Vet Para lab @sydney.edu.au 🪱
In @commsbio.nature.com, our global analyses of 100+ heartworm genomes uncover the unexpected evolutionary history and population structure of this canine parasite 🧬🌏
Read the full paper here: doi.org/10.1038/s420...
Key findings in the 🧵 below 👇

DDLS Research School Postdoc call 2026 Call for Academic and Industrial Postdoctoral Fellowships in Data-Driven Life Science 2026 Generic Description of the DDLS Postdoc Program The SciLifeLab and Wallenberg National Program for Data-Drive...

SciLifeLab has opened a call for #postdoc fellows in Data-Driven Life Science. We would be happy to host such fellows!

Get in touch if you are interested in applying with a project on the evolution of humans and domestic animals using ancient and/or modern DNA 🧪🏺

www.scilifelab.se/data-driven/...

Applications are not yet open for the "Racing the Classics" fellowship for next year, but if anyone at #AIASCS2026 #AIASCS who would like to learn more about it, I'm here and, as an associate convener, am eager to talk with folks who are considering applying!

I was just denied access to the ICE processing center at the Whipple Building.

Members of Congress have a legal right and constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight where people are being detained.

The public deserves to know what is taking place in ICE facilities.

A new study by @samleggs22.bsky.social, @shakenbeck.bsky.social & Tamsin O'Connell 'Large-Scale Isotopic Data Reveal Gendered Migration into Early Medieval England c ad 400–1100'

arch.cam.ac.uk/news/roots-of-medieval-migration-into-england-uncovered-in-new-study

Tracing 2500 years of human betaherpesvirus 6A and 6B diversity through ancient DNA First ancient HHV-6 genomes reveal 2500 years of phylogenetic continuity and provide insights into the endogenization of HHV-6A.

Our paper on the first ancient Human betaherpesvirus 6 A/B (HHV-6) genomes is published in Science Advances! 🥳

In collaboration with @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social @lucyvandorp.bsky.social @lehtisaag.bsky.social @ktambets.bsky.social & other amazing researchers!

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

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... It's finally out! Meriam Guellil expertly led this project from the first HHV6 detection to the final paper. We found both human herpesviruses 6A and 6B in ancient remains going back 2500 years.

Conversations: White Ain't Right, How White Supremacy Uses Classics to Defend Bigotry with Curtis Dozier Podcast Episode · Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean · 01/06/2026 · 1h 26m

Thanks to @mythsbaby.bsky.social for a great conversation about my new book "The White Pedestal" on Greco-Roman Antiquity and White Nationalism, both out today! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

I'm just delighted to announce our new preprint on genome-scale perturb-seq in CD4+ T cells. We learned both general lessons about the power of perturb-seq, and specific lessons about T cell biology.

Led by amazing postdocs Emma Dann and Ronghui Zhu, with my wonderful collaborator Alex Marson.

Genome-scale perturb-seq in primary human CD4+ T cells maps context-specific regulators of T cell programs and human immune traits Gene regulatory networks encode the fundamental logic of cellular functions, but systematic network mapping remains challenging, especially in cell states relevant to human biology and disease. Here, ...

Together with @ronghuizhu.bsky.social, we are thrilled to present our new perturb-seq study of 22M primary CD4+ T cells, across donors and timepoints – the result of a decade-long collaboration between the Marson @marsonlab.bsky.social and Pritchard @jkpritch.bsky.social labs 🧵 tinyurl.com/gwt2025

UMN Anthro PhD student Jaime Zolik and Prof. Maria Nieves Colón @mitopr.bsky.social were interviewed on Ep. 66 the @anthrobiology.bsky.social podcast about their aDNA research with community partners in Peru. Listen now: anthrobiology.com/episodes/

#umncla #umnproud

A new year is here and there’s just 10 days to apply for the new #SEA4FUTURE #S4F #postdoc position to work with us on #eDNA and #Sustainability of #Mediterranean #Fisheries (link below!)
🐟 🧬 🦐
Don’t miss out on the opportunity!
@thefsbi.bsky.social @thembauk.bsky.social @icesmarine.bsky.social

Here's what it looked like on my return to work this morning - beautiful red brick gabled building of Girton's Hall, with a dusting of snow on the grass in front.

JOB ALERT!

3-year postdoc at @girtoncollege.bsky.social - research anything you like in History, Archaeology or Anthropology in a wonderful, welcoming scholarly community.

PLEASE SHARE! Closes 12 January

www.girton.cam.ac.uk/job-vacancie...