Margherita Colucci
@margheritac17.bsky.social
Forensic and Pop.Genetics🧬Human and disease coevolution🧬genetic genealogy🧬Evolutionary Ecology @HumanPalaeosystemsResearch group @MPI-GEA & @EGG_Cam
Pinned
Malaria shaped human spatial organisation for the last 74 thousand years
The mechanisms driving the spatial organisation of early human societies in Africa are typically addressed through climate variables [1][1]-[3][2]. However, genetic and archaeological studies have als...
www.biorxiv.org
🚨 NEW preprint🚨 Our latest study @HPS MPI-GEA @elliescerri.bsky.social & @eegcam.bsky.social models #malaria risk over the past 74,000 years revealing its powerful role in shaping human habitat choice and dispersal since the late Pleistocene in sub-Saharan Africa 🦟🌍 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Discover how ancient DNA and modern genomics can trace pathogen evolution 🦠 join us and @lucyvandorp.bsky.social tomorrow (online): www.gea.mpg.de/179333/uncov...
November 17, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Discover how ancient DNA and modern genomics can trace pathogen evolution 🦠 join us and @lucyvandorp.bsky.social tomorrow (online): www.gea.mpg.de/179333/uncov...
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
We are happy to share the programme of speakers for our global symposium on lithic technology 🪨🔎
There are just a few spaces left for in-person participation! DM for more information.
You can join us online via this Zoom registration link: eu02web.zoom-x.de/webinar/regi...
There are just a few spaces left for in-person participation! DM for more information.
You can join us online via this Zoom registration link: eu02web.zoom-x.de/webinar/regi...
September 23, 2025 at 10:47 AM
We are happy to share the programme of speakers for our global symposium on lithic technology 🪨🔎
There are just a few spaces left for in-person participation! DM for more information.
You can join us online via this Zoom registration link: eu02web.zoom-x.de/webinar/regi...
There are just a few spaces left for in-person participation! DM for more information.
You can join us online via this Zoom registration link: eu02web.zoom-x.de/webinar/regi...
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
#newpreprint: "Climate Shaped the Global Population Structure of Leopards and their Extinction in Europe": www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...! Leopards are charming big cats but there are many mysteries around them. Thread 🧵
October 7, 2025 at 9:31 PM
#newpreprint: "Climate Shaped the Global Population Structure of Leopards and their Extinction in Europe": www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...! Leopards are charming big cats but there are many mysteries around them. Thread 🧵
Happening today! Join us at 2pm (CET) on Zoom ‼️
The seminar series is back! Don't miss the FIRST talk of the 2025/26 Human Palaeosystems in focus - the perfect way to get inspired for the new academic year ahead ➡️
www.gea.mpg.de/177655/the-e...
www.gea.mpg.de/177655/the-e...
October 15, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Happening today! Join us at 2pm (CET) on Zoom ‼️
The seminar series is back! Don't miss the FIRST talk of the 2025/26 Human Palaeosystems in focus - the perfect way to get inspired for the new academic year ahead ➡️
www.gea.mpg.de/177655/the-e...
www.gea.mpg.de/177655/the-e...
October 9, 2025 at 1:26 PM
The seminar series is back! Don't miss the FIRST talk of the 2025/26 Human Palaeosystems in focus - the perfect way to get inspired for the new academic year ahead ➡️
www.gea.mpg.de/177655/the-e...
www.gea.mpg.de/177655/the-e...
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
Our paper Genomic diversity of the African malaria vector Anopheles funestus was published in Science today! It features inversions, selection in action, museum specimens and putative new ecotypes. doi.org/10.1126/scie...
September 18, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Our paper Genomic diversity of the African malaria vector Anopheles funestus was published in Science today! It features inversions, selection in action, museum specimens and putative new ecotypes. doi.org/10.1126/scie...
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
News in the history of molecular biology. The Science History Institute in Philadelphia has acquired a huge archive of correspondence and other scientific material from the pioneers of molecular biology (Franklin, Klug, Perutz, Delbrück etc, with items from Crick and Watson, too). 1/n
History of Molecular Biology Collection
This unparalleled collection includes Rosalind Franklin's historic 'Photo 51,' which revealed the double-helix structure of DNA.
www.sciencehistory.org
September 8, 2025 at 12:28 PM
News in the history of molecular biology. The Science History Institute in Philadelphia has acquired a huge archive of correspondence and other scientific material from the pioneers of molecular biology (Franklin, Klug, Perutz, Delbrück etc, with items from Crick and Watson, too). 1/n
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
Today! Don’t miss it 😊
Join us on Wednesday for our final webinar of series by @jcsvenning.bsky.social on:
“Deep-time, large-scale perspectives on biodiversity and ecosystems: implications for biosphere stewardship in the Anthropocene.”
More information and link to register here: www.gea.mpg.de/168423/deep-...
“Deep-time, large-scale perspectives on biodiversity and ecosystems: implications for biosphere stewardship in the Anthropocene.”
More information and link to register here: www.gea.mpg.de/168423/deep-...
August 27, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Today! Don’t miss it 😊
Thank you @prelights.bsky.social & Alejandra Leffer's group for choosing our preprint on @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social and for this chance to talk about human- #malaria coevolution!🦟
@eegcam.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social @MPI_GEA
@eegcam.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social @MPI_GEA
The distribution of early human settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa might have been influenced by avoidance of mosquitoes that spread malaria
A new #prelight of Alejandra Leffer's group talks about the preprint by @margheritac17.bsky.social , and the team.
A new #prelight of Alejandra Leffer's group talks about the preprint by @margheritac17.bsky.social , and the team.
Malaria shaped human spatial organisation for the last 74 thousand years - preLights
The distribution of early human settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa might have been influenced by avoidance of mosquitoes that spread malaria
prelights.biologists.com
August 22, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Thank you @prelights.bsky.social & Alejandra Leffer's group for choosing our preprint on @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social and for this chance to talk about human- #malaria coevolution!🦟
@eegcam.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social @MPI_GEA
@eegcam.bsky.social @elliescerri.bsky.social @MPI_GEA
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
Very pleased to see our paper published online at Climate of the Past: cp.copernicus.org/articles/21/...
We present model-data comparisons of Late Quaternary climate across the Northern Hemisphere, showing that increasing model resolution has little net effect on coherence with pollen proxies 😊
We present model-data comparisons of Late Quaternary climate across the Northern Hemisphere, showing that increasing model resolution has little net effect on coherence with pollen proxies 😊
More is not always better: delta-downscaling climate model outputs from 30 to 5 min resolution has minimal impact on coherence with Late Quaternary proxies
Abstract. Both proxies and models provide key resources to explore how palaeoenvironmental changes may have impacted diverse biotic communities and cultural processes. While proxies are thought to pro...
cp.copernicus.org
July 10, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Very pleased to see our paper published online at Climate of the Past: cp.copernicus.org/articles/21/...
We present model-data comparisons of Late Quaternary climate across the Northern Hemisphere, showing that increasing model resolution has little net effect on coherence with pollen proxies 😊
We present model-data comparisons of Late Quaternary climate across the Northern Hemisphere, showing that increasing model resolution has little net effect on coherence with pollen proxies 😊
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
New paper in collaboration with @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social and @jblinkhorn.bsky.social, with several of us involved (@mikleonardi.bsky.social @margheritac17.bsky.social @andreavpozzi.bsky.social) shows that downscaling palaeoclimate models doesn't necessarily improve coherence with proxy data.
Very pleased to see our paper published online at Climate of the Past: cp.copernicus.org/articles/21/...
We present model-data comparisons of Late Quaternary climate across the Northern Hemisphere, showing that increasing model resolution has little net effect on coherence with pollen proxies 😊
We present model-data comparisons of Late Quaternary climate across the Northern Hemisphere, showing that increasing model resolution has little net effect on coherence with pollen proxies 😊
More is not always better: delta-downscaling climate model outputs from 30 to 5 min resolution has minimal impact on coherence with Late Quaternary proxies
Abstract. Both proxies and models provide key resources to explore how palaeoenvironmental changes may have impacted diverse biotic communities and cultural processes. While proxies are thought to pro...
cp.copernicus.org
July 10, 2025 at 9:22 AM
New paper in collaboration with @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social and @jblinkhorn.bsky.social, with several of us involved (@mikleonardi.bsky.social @margheritac17.bsky.social @andreavpozzi.bsky.social) shows that downscaling palaeoclimate models doesn't necessarily improve coherence with proxy data.
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
Last week, Andrea sat down with Dr Chris Smith of Naked Scientists to talk about our paper on the expansion of the human niche 70k year ago: www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/int...
Humanity's road to dominance began earlier than expected
Getting sapient about sapiens...
www.thenakedscientists.com
June 23, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Last week, Andrea sat down with Dr Chris Smith of Naked Scientists to talk about our paper on the expansion of the human niche 70k year ago: www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/int...
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
We are excited to announce that tidypopgen – a new package for rapid population genetic workflows in R – is now available at evolecolgroup.github.io/tidypopgen/ 🧬💻 Read more in the preprint describing its features here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #popgen #Rpackage #genetics 1/2
Tidy Population Genetics
We provide a tidy grammar of population genetics, facilitating the manipulation and analysis of data on biallelic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). `tidypopgen` scales to very large genetic data...
evolecolgroup.github.io
June 20, 2025 at 12:19 PM
We are excited to announce that tidypopgen – a new package for rapid population genetic workflows in R – is now available at evolecolgroup.github.io/tidypopgen/ 🧬💻 Read more in the preprint describing its features here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #popgen #Rpackage #genetics 1/2
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
#newpaper now out in @nature.com!
A huge expansion of the human niche in Africa ~70 kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with a unique ecological flexibility.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
led by Emily Hallett, @mikleonardi.bsky.social, Andrea Manica, @elliescerri.bsky.social 1/4
A huge expansion of the human niche in Africa ~70 kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with a unique ecological flexibility.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
led by Emily Hallett, @mikleonardi.bsky.social, Andrea Manica, @elliescerri.bsky.social 1/4
Major expansion in the human niche preceded out of Africa dispersal - Nature
Analysis of species distribution models in a pan-African database comprising chronometrically dated archaeological sites over the past 120,000 years shows major expansion in the human niche from 70 ka...
www.nature.com
June 18, 2025 at 3:09 PM
#newpaper now out in @nature.com!
A huge expansion of the human niche in Africa ~70 kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with a unique ecological flexibility.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
led by Emily Hallett, @mikleonardi.bsky.social, Andrea Manica, @elliescerri.bsky.social 1/4
A huge expansion of the human niche in Africa ~70 kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with a unique ecological flexibility.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
led by Emily Hallett, @mikleonardi.bsky.social, Andrea Manica, @elliescerri.bsky.social 1/4
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
Around 70,000 years ago, our ancestors in Africa began exploiting different habitats.
Flexibility to survive in deserts to rainforests enabled their successful spread ‘Out of Africa’.
Find out more about the study co-led by Andrea Manica @eegcam.bsky.social 👇
bit.ly/4e6i9H7
Flexibility to survive in deserts to rainforests enabled their successful spread ‘Out of Africa’.
Find out more about the study co-led by Andrea Manica @eegcam.bsky.social 👇
bit.ly/4e6i9H7
June 18, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Around 70,000 years ago, our ancestors in Africa began exploiting different habitats.
Flexibility to survive in deserts to rainforests enabled their successful spread ‘Out of Africa’.
Find out more about the study co-led by Andrea Manica @eegcam.bsky.social 👇
bit.ly/4e6i9H7
Flexibility to survive in deserts to rainforests enabled their successful spread ‘Out of Africa’.
Find out more about the study co-led by Andrea Manica @eegcam.bsky.social 👇
bit.ly/4e6i9H7
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
after 6 years, finally out in @nature.com!
Huge expansion of the human #niche in Africa ~70kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with unique ecological flexibility
co-led with Emily Hallett @eegcam.bsky.social & @elliescerri.bsky.social
#prehistory #humanevolution #paleoecology #SDM
Huge expansion of the human #niche in Africa ~70kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with unique ecological flexibility
co-led with Emily Hallett @eegcam.bsky.social & @elliescerri.bsky.social
#prehistory #humanevolution #paleoecology #SDM
Major expansion in the human niche preceded out of Africa dispersal - Nature
Analysis of species distribution models in a pan-African database comprising chronometrically dated archaeological sites over the past 120,000 years shows major expansion in the human niche from 70 ka...
www.nature.com
June 18, 2025 at 3:56 PM
after 6 years, finally out in @nature.com!
Huge expansion of the human #niche in Africa ~70kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with unique ecological flexibility
co-led with Emily Hallett @eegcam.bsky.social & @elliescerri.bsky.social
#prehistory #humanevolution #paleoecology #SDM
Huge expansion of the human #niche in Africa ~70kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with unique ecological flexibility
co-led with Emily Hallett @eegcam.bsky.social & @elliescerri.bsky.social
#prehistory #humanevolution #paleoecology #SDM
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
1/5 Why do all non-Africans descended from a group that left Africa 50k ago? In @nature.com we model 120k years of human niche dynamics. From 70ka, a big expansion of the human niche in Africa likely equipped later OOA dispersals with a unique ecological flexibilty.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Major expansion in the human niche preceded out of Africa dispersal - Nature
Analysis of species distribution models in a pan-African database comprising chronometrically dated archaeological sites over the past 120,000 years shows major expansion in the human niche from 70 ka...
www.nature.com
June 18, 2025 at 3:10 PM
1/5 Why do all non-Africans descended from a group that left Africa 50k ago? In @nature.com we model 120k years of human niche dynamics. From 70ka, a big expansion of the human niche in Africa likely equipped later OOA dispersals with a unique ecological flexibilty.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
Gift article about our work that also mentions our recently published paper in @nature.com on rainforests as well! Thank you @carlzimmer.com!
About 70,000 years ago, a new study suggests, our species learned to live just about anywhere. Later, that ability helped our ancestors expand from Africa across the world. Here’s my story on the human niche [Gift link] nyti.ms/3ZBc7ID
When Humans Learned to Live Everywhere
About 70,000 years ago in Africa, humans expanded into more extreme environments, a new study finds, setting the stage for our global migration.
nyti.ms
June 18, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Gift article about our work that also mentions our recently published paper in @nature.com on rainforests as well! Thank you @carlzimmer.com!
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
Massive congrats to the team on this amazing paper!
So happy for everyone involved!!👏
So happy for everyone involved!!👏
#newpaper now out in @nature.com!
A huge expansion of the human niche in Africa ~70 kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with a unique ecological flexibility.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
led by Emily Hallett, @mikleonardi.bsky.social, Andrea Manica, @elliescerri.bsky.social 1/4
A huge expansion of the human niche in Africa ~70 kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with a unique ecological flexibility.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
led by Emily Hallett, @mikleonardi.bsky.social, Andrea Manica, @elliescerri.bsky.social 1/4
Major expansion in the human niche preceded out of Africa dispersal - Nature
Analysis of species distribution models in a pan-African database comprising chronometrically dated archaeological sites over the past 120,000 years shows major expansion in the human niche from 70 ka...
www.nature.com
June 18, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Massive congrats to the team on this amazing paper!
So happy for everyone involved!!👏
So happy for everyone involved!!👏
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
"When Humans Learned to Live Everywhere" www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/s...
When Humans Learned to Live Everywhere
www.nytimes.com
June 18, 2025 at 3:28 PM
"When Humans Learned to Live Everywhere" www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/s...
🚨 NEW preprint🚨 Our latest study @HPS MPI-GEA @elliescerri.bsky.social & @eegcam.bsky.social models #malaria risk over the past 74,000 years revealing its powerful role in shaping human habitat choice and dispersal since the late Pleistocene in sub-Saharan Africa 🦟🌍 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Malaria shaped human spatial organisation for the last 74 thousand years
The mechanisms driving the spatial organisation of early human societies in Africa are typically addressed through climate variables [1][1]-[3][2]. However, genetic and archaeological studies have als...
www.biorxiv.org
June 9, 2025 at 4:13 PM
🚨 NEW preprint🚨 Our latest study @HPS MPI-GEA @elliescerri.bsky.social & @eegcam.bsky.social models #malaria risk over the past 74,000 years revealing its powerful role in shaping human habitat choice and dispersal since the late Pleistocene in sub-Saharan Africa 🦟🌍 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
Excited to announce our paper on ancient Borrelia genomes is finally out! 🦠💀We document the evolutionary history of louse-borne relapsing fever, published today in @science.org with @lucyvandorp.bsky.social and @pontus-skoglund.bsky.social #aDNA 🏺🧪🧬
Main findings and paper below: 🧵⬇️
Main findings and paper below: 🧵⬇️
May 22, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Excited to announce our paper on ancient Borrelia genomes is finally out! 🦠💀We document the evolutionary history of louse-borne relapsing fever, published today in @science.org with @lucyvandorp.bsky.social and @pontus-skoglund.bsky.social #aDNA 🏺🧪🧬
Main findings and paper below: 🧵⬇️
Main findings and paper below: 🧵⬇️
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
Our @ucl.ac.uk @crick.ac.uk work, out this week in @science.org, traces a genetic time series of bacterial infections to reveal when and how Borrelia recurrentis jumped from ticks to humans—via our body lice.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Ancient Borrelia genomes document the evolutionary history of louse-borne relapsing fever
Several bacterial pathogens have transitioned from tick-borne to louse-borne transmission, which often involves genome reduction and increasing virulence. However, the timing of such transitions remai...
www.science.org
May 23, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Our @ucl.ac.uk @crick.ac.uk work, out this week in @science.org, traces a genetic time series of bacterial infections to reveal when and how Borrelia recurrentis jumped from ticks to humans—via our body lice.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
🚨NEW PAPER from the @eegcam.bsky.social!🚨I have never been as proud of something as of the work that finally we can share today: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... - we show how a climatically driven Pan African meta population model explains our species genetic and morphological diversity 🧬💀
Pan-African metapopulation model explains Homo sapiens genetic and morphological evolution
Emerging evidence has challenged the traditional view of a single-region origin for Homo sapiens, suggesting instead that our species arose and diversified across multiple geographically distinct popu...
www.biorxiv.org
May 23, 2025 at 12:50 PM
🚨NEW PAPER from the @eegcam.bsky.social!🚨I have never been as proud of something as of the work that finally we can share today: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... - we show how a climatically driven Pan African meta population model explains our species genetic and morphological diversity 🧬💀
Reposted by Margherita Colucci
Here is the latest news from @eegcam.bsky.social...
Among other VIPs (=very important publications), it includes our recent paper on Luca Cavalli-Sforza's legacy on #humanevolution 💀🧬
With @margheritac17.bsky.social Jason Hogdson, @chrisbstringer.bsky.social and @elliescerri.bsky.social
Among other VIPs (=very important publications), it includes our recent paper on Luca Cavalli-Sforza's legacy on #humanevolution 💀🧬
With @margheritac17.bsky.social Jason Hogdson, @chrisbstringer.bsky.social and @elliescerri.bsky.social
April 11, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Here is the latest news from @eegcam.bsky.social...
Among other VIPs (=very important publications), it includes our recent paper on Luca Cavalli-Sforza's legacy on #humanevolution 💀🧬
With @margheritac17.bsky.social Jason Hogdson, @chrisbstringer.bsky.social and @elliescerri.bsky.social
Among other VIPs (=very important publications), it includes our recent paper on Luca Cavalli-Sforza's legacy on #humanevolution 💀🧬
With @margheritac17.bsky.social Jason Hogdson, @chrisbstringer.bsky.social and @elliescerri.bsky.social