People who lived 5500 years ago on the shores of Siberia’s Lake Baikal survived by hunting deer and game and catching fish. At times, marmots were on the menu, too—a decision with deadly consequences. Learn more: https://scim.ag/3QAKuhu

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

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...

The FELIX International Workshop has just ended! Two inspiring days of talks on cat domestication, paleogenomics, and human–animal interactions. Thanks to all speakers and to @claottoni.bsky.social and Felix team for bringing together this amazing community! 🐈‍⬛🐈 #FELIXProject #ERC #cats #dna

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

Proteins recovered from 400,000-year-old fossils show humans living today may have inherited genes from Homo erectus: "There’s far greater complexity in terms of hominins across Eurasia than previously recognized," says @york.ac.uk geochemist Kirsty Penkman. @science.org

🚨PhD opportunity! Study brown bears in the Balkans using ancient DNA 🧬🐻 Interested in paleogenomics & conservation? Apply! @lpcg.bsky.social 🔗 Details here: www.uw.edu.pl/wp-content/u... #PhD #AncientDNA #Paleogenomics #ConservationGenomics #WildlifeConservation

“He was probably a budding hunter still learning his skills when this happened,” the lead scientist said

We have updated our website with a selection of interviews and media coverage of our article! www.ercfelix.com/public_outre... ...and in our News section you can find a free-access reprint link to the paper www.ercfelix.com/new-paper-ou... @erc.europa.eu

Treponemal diseases might have been with us much longer than previously thought! In our recent study, we used ancient DNA to reconstruct a 5,500-year-old 𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘮 genome, revealing a previously unknown divergent subspecies. You can check it out here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🚨NEW pub in @science.org !!!🚨 🐈‍⬛🐈 The dispersal of domestic cats from North Africa to Europe around 2,000 years ago 🐈‍⬛🐈 Our article provides novel evidence suggesting new hypotheses about the history of domestic cats!🧬 🧵

After a four-year journey, my PhD work is out in @science.org Endless gratitude to the amazing @felix-erc.bsky.social team, all coauthors and collaborators, and my loved ones. Without you all this couldn't be real! 💛🐱✨ @erc.europa.eu @nationalgeographic.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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...

Talking about this on #BBCWorldService Weekend tomorrow.

Cats DNA

Analysis of ancient DNA rewrites origin story of domestic cats

The domestic cat may be a far more recent arrival to Europe than previously thought, a new Science study. finds. The results offer new insight into one of humanity’s most enigmatic animal companions and identify North Africa as the cradle of the modern housecat. Learn more: https://scim.ag/44kov1S

Well, finally the cat is out of the bag @science.org! (or at least part of a very complex story)🐈🧬. Great job from @mdemartino.bsky.social and my team @felix-erc.bsky.social. Huge thanks to all the colleagues and the institutes involved! @erc.europa.eu www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...