Ancient DNA, evolution, and the human past. Senior group leader leading the research of the Ancient Genomics lab at the Francis Crick Institute. http://www.skoglundlab.orghttps://bsky.app/profile/pontus-skoglund.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/pontus-skoglund.bsky.social/post/3mo3zgt74jk2fSo 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.12 Jun 2026 15:08 +0000at://did:plc:yon5nn5adwsjfkwg334kb2rx/app.bsky.feed.post/3mo3zgt74jk2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/pontus-skoglund.bsky.social/post/3mlaswyaezc2r4-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."07 May 2026 08:40 +0000at://did:plc:yon5nn5adwsjfkwg334kb2rx/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlaswyaezc2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/pontus-skoglund.bsky.social/post/3mgrom5sjuk2hNew video feature on our work by the Blavatnik Foundation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCNo23KpHP811 Mar 2026 10:31 +0000at://did:plc:yon5nn5adwsjfkwg334kb2rx/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgrom5sjuk2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/pontus-skoglund.bsky.social/post/3mf7g6x5pw22uApplications 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 https://www.crick.ac.uk/careers-and-study/students/phd-students/how-to-apply-phd-programme https://lnkd.in/e7YhTqVY19 Feb 2026 10:48 +0000at://did:plc:yon5nn5adwsjfkwg334kb2rx/app.bsky.feed.post/3mf7g6x5pw22uhttps://bsky.app/profile/pontus-skoglund.bsky.social/post/3m6frqggfgk2f🐺 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?24 Nov 2025 21:34 +0000at://did:plc:yon5nn5adwsjfkwg334kb2rx/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6frqggfgk2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/pontus-skoglund.bsky.social/post/3m6534e6t4c25Last 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!21 Nov 2025 10:28 +0000at://did:plc:yon5nn5adwsjfkwg334kb2rx/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6534e6t4c25https://bsky.app/profile/pontus-skoglund.bsky.social/post/3m62kjkcf2c27Degraded 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. [contains quote post or other embedded content]20 Nov 2025 10:25 +0000at://did:plc:yon5nn5adwsjfkwg334kb2rx/app.bsky.feed.post/3m62kjkcf2c27https://bsky.app/profile/pontus-skoglund.bsky.social/post/3m5yeypiioc22The 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.19 Nov 2025 13:41 +0000at://did:plc:yon5nn5adwsjfkwg334kb2rx/app.bsky.feed.post/3m5yeypiioc22https://bsky.app/profile/pontus-skoglund.bsky.social/post/3m5mq4qurcc2yAs 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. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/13/science/hitler-dna-documentary14 Nov 2025 22:28 +0000at://did:plc:yon5nn5adwsjfkwg334kb2rx/app.bsky.feed.post/3m5mq4qurcc2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/pontus-skoglund.bsky.social/post/3m4bbvvrgek22In 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. [contains quote post or other embedded content]28 Oct 2025 15:49 +0000at://did:plc:yon5nn5adwsjfkwg334kb2rx/app.bsky.feed.post/3m4bbvvrgek22https://bsky.app/profile/pontus-skoglund.bsky.social/post/3m47cqfptuk22Are 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! [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Oct 2025 20:59 +0000at://did:plc:yon5nn5adwsjfkwg334kb2rx/app.bsky.feed.post/3m47cqfptuk22