Hélios Delbrassine
@heliosdlbs.bsky.social
PhD student at the University of Padua, studying human cultural evolution and demography with population genetics 🧬 ENG/FR/IT
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
Our new ancient DNA paper has just been published!
We present 28 new genomes from southern Africa - several of them high-coverage whole genomes.
Exciting to be moving towards population-level representation of ancient southern African genetic diversity!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We present 28 new genomes from southern Africa - several of them high-coverage whole genomes.
Exciting to be moving towards population-level representation of ancient southern African genetic diversity!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Homo sapiens-specific evolution unveiled by ancient southern African genomes - Nature
The genomes of 28 ancient southern African individuals dated to between 10,200 and 150 years before present offer insights into the evolution of Homo sapiens.
www.nature.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Our new ancient DNA paper has just been published!
We present 28 new genomes from southern Africa - several of them high-coverage whole genomes.
Exciting to be moving towards population-level representation of ancient southern African genetic diversity!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We present 28 new genomes from southern Africa - several of them high-coverage whole genomes.
Exciting to be moving towards population-level representation of ancient southern African genetic diversity!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
‼️📢 Neandertal as prey‼️
We demonstrated selective cannibalism behavior at the end of the Middle Palaeolithic in Northern Europe
#Neandertal #Prehistory #Cannibalism #MiddlePaleolithic #Goyet
We demonstrated selective cannibalism behavior at the end of the Middle Palaeolithic in Northern Europe
#Neandertal #Prehistory #Cannibalism #MiddlePaleolithic #Goyet
Did Neandertals choose their prey when practicing cannibalism?🍖
Check out our new study, just published in Scientific Reports - @natureportfolio.nature.com!
We provide the strongest evidence to date for a highly selective cannibalism at the end of Neandertal lineage, 41-45.000 years ago.
1/7
Check out our new study, just published in Scientific Reports - @natureportfolio.nature.com!
We provide the strongest evidence to date for a highly selective cannibalism at the end of Neandertal lineage, 41-45.000 years ago.
1/7
Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey
doi.org
November 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
‼️📢 Neandertal as prey‼️
We demonstrated selective cannibalism behavior at the end of the Middle Palaeolithic in Northern Europe
#Neandertal #Prehistory #Cannibalism #MiddlePaleolithic #Goyet
We demonstrated selective cannibalism behavior at the end of the Middle Palaeolithic in Northern Europe
#Neandertal #Prehistory #Cannibalism #MiddlePaleolithic #Goyet
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
A very special paper where we did something NEW! 🔥combining a large genetic dataset 🧬, a large linguistic dataset 💬, and Bayesian multilevel logistic regressions 📈, counting the effects of areal contact (geographic constrains) 🌎. Genetic admixture explains higher levels of linguistic exchanges...
Our paper is out! We linked genetic and linguistic data to study how contact changes language and found consistent patterns of borrowing across contact situations
@balthasarbickel.bsky.social @chiarabarbieri.bsky.social @nccrlanguage.bsky.social @isle-uzh.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adv7521
@balthasarbickel.bsky.social @chiarabarbieri.bsky.social @nccrlanguage.bsky.social @isle-uzh.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adv7521
Patterns of genetic admixture reveal similar rates of borrowing across diverse scenarios of language contact
Human population contact leads to consistently similar rates of linguistic borrowing, but effects vary across linguistic features.
www.science.org
August 30, 2025 at 1:56 PM
A very special paper where we did something NEW! 🔥combining a large genetic dataset 🧬, a large linguistic dataset 💬, and Bayesian multilevel logistic regressions 📈, counting the effects of areal contact (geographic constrains) 🌎. Genetic admixture explains higher levels of linguistic exchanges...
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
🧪 By our colleague F. d’Errico: the evolution of cultural transmission over the past 3.3 million years! Outcome of a 4-year project supported by the GPR Human Past and by I. Collage’s yearly visits as a Visiting Scholar shorturl.at/EEK2S @univbordeaux.bsky.social @cnrsecologie.bsky.social
An empirically-based scenario for the evolution of cultural transmission in the human lineage during the last 3.3 million years
Humans accumulate an ever-growing body of knowledge that far exceeds the capacity of any single individual or generation. Social learning and transmission are essential for this process. However, how ...
shorturl.at
June 5, 2025 at 5:15 AM
🧪 By our colleague F. d’Errico: the evolution of cultural transmission over the past 3.3 million years! Outcome of a 4-year project supported by the GPR Human Past and by I. Collage’s yearly visits as a Visiting Scholar shorturl.at/EEK2S @univbordeaux.bsky.social @cnrsecologie.bsky.social
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
🧬 Over 1,000 years of history revealed from 3,000+ burials in Sint-Truiden.
Researchers from KU Leuven & global partners uncovered genetic traces of migration, ancestry & the Black Death, powered by VSC 💻
📰 Read more www.vscentrum.be/post/discove...
#HPC #DNA #Paleogenomics #Supercomputing
Researchers from KU Leuven & global partners uncovered genetic traces of migration, ancestry & the Black Death, powered by VSC 💻
📰 Read more www.vscentrum.be/post/discove...
#HPC #DNA #Paleogenomics #Supercomputing
May 28, 2025 at 7:57 AM
🧬 Over 1,000 years of history revealed from 3,000+ burials in Sint-Truiden.
Researchers from KU Leuven & global partners uncovered genetic traces of migration, ancestry & the Black Death, powered by VSC 💻
📰 Read more www.vscentrum.be/post/discove...
#HPC #DNA #Paleogenomics #Supercomputing
Researchers from KU Leuven & global partners uncovered genetic traces of migration, ancestry & the Black Death, powered by VSC 💻
📰 Read more www.vscentrum.be/post/discove...
#HPC #DNA #Paleogenomics #Supercomputing
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
Discover our results of the largest ancient DNA study ever conducted on a single burial site: 400 skeletons from the Belgian city Sint-Truiden (8th–18th century). A unique glimpse into 1000 years of genetic history. (1/9) @kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social
May 20, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Discover our results of the largest ancient DNA study ever conducted on a single burial site: 400 skeletons from the Belgian city Sint-Truiden (8th–18th century). A unique glimpse into 1000 years of genetic history. (1/9) @kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
Fantastic paper in @science.org today revealing:
1. strong selection for cold tolerance in Beringia
2. gene-flow across the strait around 5ky
3. diversification of S. American lineages into 4 groups ~ 14k-10ky
4. followed by population crash of >40-80%
1. strong selection for cold tolerance in Beringia
2. gene-flow across the strait around 5ky
3. diversification of S. American lineages into 4 groups ~ 14k-10ky
4. followed by population crash of >40-80%
May 15, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Fantastic paper in @science.org today revealing:
1. strong selection for cold tolerance in Beringia
2. gene-flow across the strait around 5ky
3. diversification of S. American lineages into 4 groups ~ 14k-10ky
4. followed by population crash of >40-80%
1. strong selection for cold tolerance in Beringia
2. gene-flow across the strait around 5ky
3. diversification of S. American lineages into 4 groups ~ 14k-10ky
4. followed by population crash of >40-80%
Had the pleasure of being interviewed by Bas den Hond at @trouw.nl about our preprint on the diffusion of mythological motifs around the world!
He did a truly marvellous job, read the full piece here:
www.trouw.nl/wetenschap/w...
He did a truly marvellous job, read the full piece here:
www.trouw.nl/wetenschap/w...
Wat verhalen die de wereld over reizen over de mensheid onthullen
In mythen overal ter wereld zitten elementen die al met de mensheid meereizen zo lang die bestaat. Dat blijkt als je culturele en genetische informatie combineert.
www.trouw.nl
May 12, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Had the pleasure of being interviewed by Bas den Hond at @trouw.nl about our preprint on the diffusion of mythological motifs around the world!
He did a truly marvellous job, read the full piece here:
www.trouw.nl/wetenschap/w...
He did a truly marvellous job, read the full piece here:
www.trouw.nl/wetenschap/w...
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
@heliosdlbs.bsky.social had a poster about this work at #HumanEvo25 - fascinating study 🤩🤩🤩
Worldwide patterns in mythology echo the human expansion out of Africa www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Worldwide patterns in mythology echo the human expansion out of Africa
Similarities between geographically distant mythological and folkloric traditions have been noted for a long time. With the elaboration of large banks of data describing the presence and absence of na...
www.biorxiv.org
April 30, 2025 at 8:30 PM
@heliosdlbs.bsky.social had a poster about this work at #HumanEvo25 - fascinating study 🤩🤩🤩
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
🚨 New call: FRB-CESAB & HEIRS (w/ PNDB) will fund 4 projects under the IdeaShare & DataShare schemes – incl. one on #Biodiversity & #HumanEvolution.
2 yrs funding | Interdisciplinary teams
🔗 www.icarehb.com/opportunity-...
#ResearchFunding
2 yrs funding | Interdisciplinary teams
🔗 www.icarehb.com/opportunity-...
#ResearchFunding
Opportunity for Biodiversity and Human Evolution Research - ICArEHB
The FRB-CESAB, in collaboration with HEIRS (hub for Human Evolution Research Synthesis), and supported by the PNDB, is launching a call to fund two types of complementary groups: IdeaShare – Focuses o...
www.icarehb.com
April 14, 2025 at 2:11 PM
🚨 New call: FRB-CESAB & HEIRS (w/ PNDB) will fund 4 projects under the IdeaShare & DataShare schemes – incl. one on #Biodiversity & #HumanEvolution.
2 yrs funding | Interdisciplinary teams
🔗 www.icarehb.com/opportunity-...
#ResearchFunding
2 yrs funding | Interdisciplinary teams
🔗 www.icarehb.com/opportunity-...
#ResearchFunding
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
Incredibly proud that our paper on the #palaeoproteomics analysis of the Penghu mandible, led by @tsutatsuta.bsky.social and in collaboration with Chun-Hsiang Chang, Enrico Cappellini and co, is out now in
@science.org! doi.org/10.1126/scie...
@science.org! doi.org/10.1126/scie...
A male Denisovan mandible from Pleistocene Taiwan
Denisovans are an extinct hominin group defined by ancient genomes of Middle to Late Pleistocene fossils from southern Siberia. Although genomic evidence suggests their widespread distribution through...
doi.org
April 10, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Incredibly proud that our paper on the #palaeoproteomics analysis of the Penghu mandible, led by @tsutatsuta.bsky.social and in collaboration with Chun-Hsiang Chang, Enrico Cappellini and co, is out now in
@science.org! doi.org/10.1126/scie...
@science.org! doi.org/10.1126/scie...
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
We're disappointed to see Ben Barres's powerful book "The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist" among the ~400 titles removed from the Naval Academy Library. Needless to say, we're proud to have published his book and will keep it — and his memory — alive.
The Coming Out of a Transgender Scientist
"I know that I am making the right decision because whenever I think about changing my gender role, I am flooded with feelings of relief."
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
April 8, 2025 at 8:24 PM
We're disappointed to see Ben Barres's powerful book "The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist" among the ~400 titles removed from the Naval Academy Library. Needless to say, we're proud to have published his book and will keep it — and his memory — alive.
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
This looks useful -- A Dataset on Linguistic Connectivity Across and Within Countries
#linguistics #languages
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#linguistics #languages
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A Dataset on Linguistic Connectivity Across and Within Countries - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - A Dataset on Linguistic Connectivity Across and Within Countries
www.nature.com
April 8, 2025 at 8:33 PM
This looks useful -- A Dataset on Linguistic Connectivity Across and Within Countries
#linguistics #languages
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#linguistics #languages
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
The genomes of two women who lived 7,000 years ago in the Sahara when it was a green savannah reveal a remarkably isolated population
https://go.nature.com/3QWkjOV
https://go.nature.com/3QWkjOV
Revealed: first DNA profiles of ancient people who roamed a lush Sahara
The genomes of two women who lived 7,000 years ago in the Sahara when it was a green savannah reveal a remarkably isolated population.
go.nature.com
April 2, 2025 at 3:50 PM
The genomes of two women who lived 7,000 years ago in the Sahara when it was a green savannah reveal a remarkably isolated population
https://go.nature.com/3QWkjOV
https://go.nature.com/3QWkjOV
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
Our new paper reports a complete Quina technological system in the 60-50 ka assemblage at Longtan, Southwest China
Ruan, Q. et al. (2025) Quina lithic technology indicates diverse Late Pleistocene human dynamics in East Asia doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
🆓 faculty.washington.edu/bmarwick/PDF...
Ruan, Q. et al. (2025) Quina lithic technology indicates diverse Late Pleistocene human dynamics in East Asia doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
🆓 faculty.washington.edu/bmarwick/PDF...
March 31, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Our new paper reports a complete Quina technological system in the 60-50 ka assemblage at Longtan, Southwest China
Ruan, Q. et al. (2025) Quina lithic technology indicates diverse Late Pleistocene human dynamics in East Asia doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
🆓 faculty.washington.edu/bmarwick/PDF...
Ruan, Q. et al. (2025) Quina lithic technology indicates diverse Late Pleistocene human dynamics in East Asia doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
🆓 faculty.washington.edu/bmarwick/PDF...
fascinating paper, congrats to all the authors!
the model they present is full of potential, great prospects indeed
the model they present is full of potential, great prospects indeed
April 1, 2025 at 5:56 PM
fascinating paper, congrats to all the authors!
the model they present is full of potential, great prospects indeed
the model they present is full of potential, great prospects indeed
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
Really excited to see this work, led by Mike Grundler, published! It's a new method for inferring the geographic locations of shared genetic ancestors. In the paper, we and use it to infer the geographic history of human genetic ancestry
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A geographic history of human genetic ancestry
Describing the distribution of genetic variation across individuals is a fundamental goal of population genetics. We present a method that capitalizes on the rich genealogical information encoded in g...
www.science.org
March 28, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Really excited to see this work, led by Mike Grundler, published! It's a new method for inferring the geographic locations of shared genetic ancestors. In the paper, we and use it to infer the geographic history of human genetic ancestry
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
New Preprint klaxon - and calling all Danes+Brits who are interested in genetics+history - a new preprint led by Xiaolei Zhang in my group with Soren Brunak's group about genetic exchange from 1100 to the present day between UK (Britain)+Denmark. Read on for details www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Population-scale analysis of inheritance patterns across 858,635 individuals reveals recent historical migration patterns across the North Sea from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution
The North Sea's historical migrations have impacted the genetic structure of its neighbouring populations. We analysed haplotype sharing among 858,635 modern individuals from Denmark and Britain to in...
www.biorxiv.org
March 20, 2025 at 7:34 AM
New Preprint klaxon - and calling all Danes+Brits who are interested in genetics+history - a new preprint led by Xiaolei Zhang in my group with Soren Brunak's group about genetic exchange from 1100 to the present day between UK (Britain)+Denmark. Read on for details www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
The lecture was based on this preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... certainly exciting possibilities to understand Neolithic mobility & relationships #archaeology 🏺🧪
Female lineages and changing kinship patterns in Neolithic Çatalhöyük
Arguments have long suggested that the advent of early farming in the Near East and Anatolia was linked to a ‘Mother Goddess’ cult. However, evidence for a dominant female role in these societies has ...
www.biorxiv.org
March 17, 2025 at 10:23 AM
The lecture was based on this preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... certainly exciting possibilities to understand Neolithic mobility & relationships #archaeology 🏺🧪
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
New aDNA preprint looking at 5th-7th century CE cemeteries from across present-day southern Germany. Generation-by-generation assimilation of people with diverse ancestries from across Western Eurasia as (presumably) formerly-Romanised populations move and mix.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
March 8, 2025 at 1:53 PM
New aDNA preprint looking at 5th-7th century CE cemeteries from across present-day southern Germany. Generation-by-generation assimilation of people with diverse ancestries from across Western Eurasia as (presumably) formerly-Romanised populations move and mix.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
Forcing authors to edit or retract papers simply because they contain ‘forbidden terms’ is damaging to scientific integrity, says ESHG
Read the statement from #eshg:
Read the statement from #eshg:
Forcing authors to edit or retract papers simply because they contain ‘forbidden terms’ is damaging to scientific integrity, says ESHG
statement from ESHG
buff.ly
February 11, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Forcing authors to edit or retract papers simply because they contain ‘forbidden terms’ is damaging to scientific integrity, says ESHG
Read the statement from #eshg:
Read the statement from #eshg:
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
Our papers, out today in @nature.com, show how ancient DNA from the Eneolithic and Bronze Age steppe points to a North Pontic origin of the Indo-European language family and a Caucasus-Lower Volga (CLV) origin of Indo-Anatolian (inclusive of the now extinct Anatolian languages). 1/
February 5, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Our papers, out today in @nature.com, show how ancient DNA from the Eneolithic and Bronze Age steppe points to a North Pontic origin of the Indo-European language family and a Caucasus-Lower Volga (CLV) origin of Indo-Anatolian (inclusive of the now extinct Anatolian languages). 1/
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
“The distribution of highly deleterious variants across human ancestry groups”. Preprint with Anastasia Stolyarova and @gcbias.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The distribution of highly deleterious variants across human ancestry groups
A major focus of human genetics is to map severe disease mutations. Increasingly that goal is understood as requiring huge numbers of people to be sequenced from every broadly-defined genetic ancestry...
www.biorxiv.org
February 2, 2025 at 7:00 PM
“The distribution of highly deleterious variants across human ancestry groups”. Preprint with Anastasia Stolyarova and @gcbias.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
2024 was harsh... but we made a thing:
BiosS (Bioanthropology of southern south America) is our brand new research group 💪
You can see more details at: idacor.conicet.gov.ar/bioss-sudame...
or follow us on IG: @biossud
BiosS (Bioanthropology of southern south America) is our brand new research group 💪
You can see more details at: idacor.conicet.gov.ar/bioss-sudame...
or follow us on IG: @biossud
February 2, 2025 at 10:50 PM
2024 was harsh... but we made a thing:
BiosS (Bioanthropology of southern south America) is our brand new research group 💪
You can see more details at: idacor.conicet.gov.ar/bioss-sudame...
or follow us on IG: @biossud
BiosS (Bioanthropology of southern south America) is our brand new research group 💪
You can see more details at: idacor.conicet.gov.ar/bioss-sudame...
or follow us on IG: @biossud
Reposted by Hélios Delbrassine
EXCLUSIVE: NSF starts vetting all grants to comply with Trump’s orders | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
EXCLUSIVE: NSF starts vetting all grants to comply with Trump’s orders
Grantee accounts remain frozen, while union accuses NSF of ignoring rules governing peer review
www.science.org
January 31, 2025 at 6:42 PM
EXCLUSIVE: NSF starts vetting all grants to comply with Trump’s orders | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...