Stephan Schiffels

Short contribution of me on German radio (in German) about the 7 daughters of eve: www.mdr.de/jump/podcast...

We have an open Call for PhD positions at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social : www.leipzig-school.eva.mpg.de/application/... #adna #phd

Stephan Schiffels, @stschiff.bsky.social, a researcher who sometimes uses principal component analysis for genetics, here illustrates the concept using EU flags. observablehq.com/@stschiff/pc...

Map projection that's equal-area for the whole world but transitions to Mercator (conformal) on zoom www.benjoffe.com/map

Principal Components Analysis of flags: observablehq.com/@stschiff/pc... I have made this for a class once and now beefed up to a proper tutorial/blog post, written on the literate programming environment Observable, all data-loading and computation happening live in your browser! Enjoy.

New poseidon-hs release (v2.2.2.1)! Took the chance to write a roundup of everything since our last post — v3.0.0 support, streaming multi-GB archives, smarter forge queries & more. Thanks Clemens Schmid for driving most of it! 🔱 blog.poseidon-adna.org/posts/poseid...

🏺Woah, the Ferriter’s Cove cow is actually a bear/boar. May not seem like much but this is a big shift in the debates around the Neolithic transition to farming in Ireland c.4000 BCE. Incredible how a reinterpretation of a lynchpin bit of evidence can have such a profound effect.

Check out our new review: Ancient DNA in motion! We examine how the integration of archaeogenomic data with archaeological evidence can help reconstruct past human mobility and interactions, as well as their consequences, while also addressing key terminological and interpretive limitations.

Ready for solar eclipse 2026

@stschiff.bsky.social and the team present a new statistical model—RAS (Rare Allele Sharing)—that summarizes rare allele frequency correlations, similar to F-statistics but with flexible ascertainment on allele frequencies. Find out more in #G3journal for #rstats package and code 🔗 buff.ly/B6fMnVz

If you are interested in learning computational population genetics and ancient genomics, I have curated my list of workshops and online tutorials (and will continue to do so) indicating suitability for self-learners and status. You find the list [here](www.stephanschiffels.de/resources.html).

Na, und die Beigaben des sog. #Fürstengrab​s am #Glauberg sind ja bekanntlich immer für eine spannende Geschichte gut. 😉 trowelandpen.com/2025/08/21/m...

Finally an official publication of Pileupcaller. Please cite. Thanks to @joss-openjournals.bsky.social for the review process and publishing!

Ready for the final concert of the unbelievable Bach-Marathon, with Thomas-Organist Johannes Lang performing all(!) organ works from J.S.Bach in 14 back-to-back concerts, through 21 hours. I have attended 4 of the concerts, and it was a transcendental experience, for lack of adequate superlatives.

Faszinierender Einblick in die Populationsgenetik von @stschiff im #Deutschlandfunk Nova Hörsaal: https://www.deutschlandfunknova.de/beitrag/populationsgenetik-menschheitsgeschichte-in-den-genen-ablesen

#SMBE #SMBE2025 Just notice the preprint of Rare Allele Sharing (RAS) statistics was out on the same day of my talk in @official-smbe.bsky.social . Great thanks to my supervisor @stschiff.bsky.social and co-author Thiseas Christos Lamnidis!

Pls spread the word! We have a postdoc position available in the Rocha Lab @mpi-muenster.bsky.social. Join our team to study mechanisms underlying robust organ development using zebrafish embryos and human organoids. mpi-muenster.mpg.de/career

Happy to share our new study from my PhD on the spread of farming across Anatolia and into the Aegean and then into Europe. @compevohumang.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 👇🏽

Postdoc position in my group in Tokyo! Please get in touch if you are interested. And happy to discuss projects - these would range from developing new methods to analysis of new genomes that we are now sequencing in the lab. Job Ad: www.riken.jp/en/careers/r... Lab page: speidellab.github.io

Morgen auf der langen Nacht der Wissenschaften gibt's von mir um 22:00 Uhr einen Vortrag mit dem Titel "Gene und Geschichte – Wie alte DNA unsere bewegte Vergangenheit erzählt". Herzliche Einladung ans @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social

Am 20. Juni ist es soweit: Das @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social lädt zur Langen Nacht der Wissenschaften ein! 😊 Ab 18 Uhr erwarten Euch spannende Vorträge & eine bunte Vielfalt an Mitmachstationen rund um #Menschheitsgeschichte 🧬🧪 & #Primatenevolution. 🐒 Unser Programm: www.eva.mpg.de/de/veranstal...

Our #PhD students are excited to hear @stschiff.bsky.social speak about "Spatial inference of population structure and prehistoric human mobility from ancient and modern #genomes" tomorrow for our #PopGen Seminar series. Full schedule and streaming signup at www.popgen-vienna.at/news/seminars/

Abstract deadline 30th June for the London ancient genome and human biology event of the year this November! @gensocuk.bsky.social

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

Open position at @unileipzig.bsky.social for professor of archaeology of the antique Mediterranean! www.uni-leipzig.de/stellenaussc...

For my German Leserschaft: New story on the crypts of Milan's Ca' Granda hospital in ‪@szde.bsky.social‬ this weekend / neue Geschichte im @szde.bsky.social über die Krypten von Ca' Granda in Mailand, reprinted from @science.org and translated by @jakwet.bsky.social:

90% of doing science is being open to new ideas.

Hallo Oberbergischer Kreis! Am 27. Mai spreche ich in der #Demokratiekirche Oberberg: www.demokratiekirche-oberberg.de/veranstaltun...

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.

Really impressive and moving interview by @baym.lol about the Harvard cuts.

Poseidon now supports VCF files (and pileupCaller does, too)! blog.poseidon-adna.org/posts/vcf_po...

Call for #PhD students open! Apply by 14 May to start your research career in #evolution #genetics in beautiful #Vienna among a fun international and interdisciplinary crowd of peers #evolVienna #bioinformatics #bigdata #Drosophila #adaptation #popgen

Happy to see that Max Planck institute for Evolutionary Anthropology is on @bsky.app as well! @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social welcome! Also great that the weather slowly starts to allow lunch outside by the pond at the institute ;)

If you need another break from current news, come with me 7000 years ago to search for the first speakers of Indo-European languages. 🧪 Gift link: nyti.ms/42ILio5

Woah. Two of my top trigger words in one paper. Gotta read!

Now this is how #aDNA *and* the #archaeological record are teaming up - The fascinating case of #IronAge Britain's #matrilocality: 🏺 www.science.org/content/arti... by @spoke32.bsky.social via Science Mag

More than 15 years ago I went to @auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social to understand the link between memory and preservation. I was lucky enough to speak with survivors of the camp, only one of whom is still alive. I think the piece I wrote for @smithsonianmag.bsky.social remains relevant today.

Problem solved!

Excellent book review on "The trouble with ancient DNA" by my colleague Kathrin Nägele at the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #adna #books #science

Nice article in National Geographics (in German) on our findings of dynastic relationships among Celtic elite burials, featuring Angela Mötsch from my group: www.nationalgeographic.de/geschichte-u...