So the lesson from Fable 5 is to advise my kids to instead of plumbers become... virologists? Any job that will be considered too dangerous to be inside advanced AI guardrails.

Tickets are available for live recordings of our chart‑topping podcast, A Question of Science. Join Professor Brian Cox and expert panels as they explore your questions on addiction, the teenage brain, saving our oceans and more. Book tickets and send in your questions: lostintv.com/tv-show?id=1...

4-year-old just learned about the human fossil record: "We will be olden-days-people soon, and other scientists will discover US! And then it will keep going."

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

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.

🏺🧪 More Question of Science podcast Tom-Boothelry on ancient DNA with @profbriancox.bsky.social and @pontus-skoglund.bsky.social youtu.be/RmvmLH44NCQ?...

Don’t miss out on More Questions of Science. We’ve recorded six bonus episodes, revisiting some of the biggest themes from previous episodes of A Question of Science Listen to all six brand-new episodes on your favourite podcast platform: www.lnk.to/AQuestionOfScienceBB

We now know that dog domestication happened more than 14,000 years ago, thanks to new research from the Crick, @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social and @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social, shedding light on how the first farmers adopted hunter-gatherer dogs. www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-03...

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

“Science describes accurately from outside, poetry describes accurately from inside. Both celebrate what they describe. We need the languages of both science & poetry to save us from merely stockpiling endless ‘information’ that fails to inform our ignorance or irresponsibility.” Ursula Le Guin 2014

New video feature on our work by the Blavatnik Foundation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCNo...

Applications welcome to be a PhD-student in my ancient DNA research programme at @crick.ac.uk: 🏰 Ancient human history in Europe and beyond. ⚕️ Statistical genetics to understand human biology with ancient genomes. 🦠 Pathogen genomics of past infections. Apply at www.crick.ac.uk/careers-and-...

Very interesting perspective article by @caina89.bsky.social et al on genetic studies in psychiatry. The authors argue that studies increasingly rely on "shallow" phenotyping (self-reported), leading to biases in estimation of genetic relationships between disorders. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

At least we know the rest of the year will be uneventful...? 🙃

Researchers discovered early signs of domestication by analysing the remains of two wolves who lived in modern-day Sweden 3-5,000 years ago. www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-11...

🐺 Wolves in dog's clothing 🐺 Our latest in @pnas.org uncovers a surprise three to five thousand years ago: 2 canids in human contexts on a tiny island in the middle of the Baltic Sea, that ate marine food—but had 100% gray wolf ancestry. Where they tame wolves, or even an incipient domestication?

Last week we had a great meeting on "Ancient genomes: perspectives on human biology and medicine" at the @royalsociety.org and the @crick.ac.uk. It was an amazing set of talks and posters. Thanks to the @gensocuk.bsky.social, co-host @janetk.bsky.social and all participants for a great day!

‼️📢 Neandertal as prey‼️ We demonstrated selective cannibalism behavior at the end of the Middle Palaeolithic in Northern Europe #Neandertal #Prehistory #Cannibalism #MiddlePaleolithic #Goyet

Degraded DNA will be riddled with errors, mutations happening after death. Polygenic risk for the psychiatric conditions quoted in the media campaign is driven by rare variants of big effect. A potential problem could thus be uncorrected errors artefactually increasing the AH DNA risk estimate.

The 2026 EMBL symposium 'Reconstructing the human past using ancient and modern genomics' is live with a fantastic invited speaker lineup! Abstract deadline 9 June. If work is ongoing, plan for Heidelberg in September😉. Organised by Maanasa Raghavan, @matejahajdi.bsky.social, Choongwon Jeong & me.

A PhD project on historical genomics in the declining red squirrel in Britain is available in my group, through the @aries-dtp.bsky.social. Use historical genomes to track the effects of decline and genetic rescue in this charismatic species. aries-dtp.ac.uk/studentships...

I’m not an expert on polygenic scores for mental health, but a concern I would have is whether something has gone wrong with the genotyping, leading to misestimated polygenic scores that look extreme.

In particular, the claims that “[Hitler’s polygenic] score for schizophrenia, autism and bipolar disorder was actually higher than 99% of the individuals.” and " It is also rare to have a high polygenic risk score for all three conditions" strike me as strange.

I think we can say confidently that there is zero scientific value in such 'celebrity' genomes, notorious or otherwise, and probably little or no historical value either.

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...

Just a few weeks left to apply for our clinical PhD programme. We're looking for clinicians who are passionate about research to join the 3-year fully funded programme. Learn more and see what positions are available ⬇️ www.crick.ac.uk/careers-and-...

In case you missed it, catch the Question of Science podcast on ancient DNA on your favorite platform. We cover why ancient DNA studies can make a difference not only to understanding history, but also health and disease.

Are you obsessed with archaeological or historical questions and easily get into coding? Or a computational scientist that want to understand biology and disease evolution, and curious about the ancient past? If you have these or other burning questions that fits into our programme, apply below!

We have an exciting line-up of speakers already confirmed for our Ancient Genomes meeting in November. If you want to be one of the speakers or present a poster, submit your abstract by 31 July! genetics.org.uk/events/ancie...

Join us at the The Francis Crick Institute for a lecture by the one and only Svante Pääbo on November 13. The next day, join us for a symposium at the Royal Society featuring Svante and many others.

NEW EPISODE: Who are our ancestors and why does it matter? Join our expert panellists as they answer audience questions about ancient DNA. Listen on your favourite podcast platform: lnk.to/AQOSAncientD...

Thrilled to share our preprint where we propose that S. enterica Paratyphi C entered Mexico via European conquest and then diversified locally. More evidence is needed to assert whether or not it caused Cocoliztli (a major contact-period epidemic). Comments welcome! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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

We're now recruiting early career group leaders at the Crick to lead ambitious research programmes and explore bold scientific questions. Hear our Director, Edith Heard, explain why the Crick is a unique place for curiosity-driven research. Apply now ➡️ www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

PhD-opening in our ancient genomics lab this year, apply below! We work on: 1. Genetic history integrated with archaeology and history 2. Natural selection and trait genetics 3. Evolutionary genomics of dogs and wolves 4. Ancient pathogen genomics 5. Hominin evolution and ancient proteomics

NEW EPISODE: Are we prepared for the next pandemic? Join our expert panellists as they answer audience questions about COVID-19 and whether we're ready for the next pandemic. Listen on your favourite podcast platform: lnk.to/AQOSPandemic...

Crick PhD programme open, with a studentship in my lab possible. Apply if at all curious!

Motivated graduates with backgrounds in biological or biomedical sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering and/or computer science are invited to apply to our 4-year fully funded PhD programme. Apply by 05 November 2025 www.crick.ac.uk/careers-and-...

Register to attend the #LouisJeantetSymposium on vertebrate genome #evolution. Organised by Svante Pääbo and @kaessmannlab.bsky.social . Free event, full line up of speakers 👉 www.jeantet.ch/en/ 📆Tuesday 14 October, 08h15 📍CMU - Auditoire Alex-F. Müller (A250) @genevunige.bsky.social

The programme of talks for the London symposium on ancient genomes is set, but we are still open for poster submissions until Friday. Hope to see many there.

3-year PhD programme for candidates that already hold a medical degree. A project with us would aim to understand the origins and human evolution of biologically and medically relevant genetic variant. Don't hesitate to apply to discuss further!

NEW PODCAST: ‘A Question of Science’ with Professor Brian Cox. In every episode, panels of scientists and experts answer audience questions about some of the biggest issues facing us today. Listen to the first episode, ‘Can we live forever?’: lnk.to/AQOSAgeingBB

Big congratulations to Helen and all other awardees!

Early bird registration until 12 September!

Full programme on ancient DNA, human biology and medicine out now for our packed November 14 @gensocuk.bsky.social symposium! Join us at the @royalsociety.org in London.

Exited to have such a great set of speakers for Ancient genomes: perspectives on human biology and medicine The program is now online and registration is still open! registrations.hg3conferences.co.uk/hg3/frontend...

Now recruiting for two positions in my lab: Postdoc in computational analysis of ancient human genomes www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud... Bioarchaeology staff scientist supporting human aDNA projects www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud... Background: sites.google.com/view/skoglun... Applications welcome!

New postdoc opening in our lab: crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job... Don't hesitate to send in your details or contact me if interested!

Only 10 more days to submit your abstract! @pontus-skoglund.bsky.social and @janetk.bsky.social have organised a fantastic meeting with incredible speakers. Join us in November @royalsociety.org!

Abstract deadline for the London ancient genomes and human evolution meeting in November extended to 31st July. Alongside the invited speakers we have ~8 slots for speakers from submitted abstracts and a poster session. Submit yours!