Tracking the lead SNP from a new GWAS of lifetime sexlessness across 12,000 years of West Eurasian ancient genomes, the author finds the allele associated with sexlessness was more common in the deep past and has declined toward the present. A weighted regression on 500‑year bins (adjusted for latitude and coverage) shows a negative time trend (slope ≈ 0.0105 per kyr; standardized β ≈ 0.51). This suggests slow, long‑run selection against genetic liabilities that reduce partnering and reproduction.
— It injects evolutionary genetics into debates about modern sexlessness and mating markets, indicating that recent behavioral shifts likely reflect social environments rather than a genetic rise in sexlessness‑prone variants.
Devin Reese
2026.01.14
75% relevant
Both items use ancient‑DNA time series to infer long‑term population processes. The woolly‑rhino genome paper parallels the sexlessness‑allele work in showing how sequencing late samples can decompose apparent recent changes (here extinction timing/mechanisms rather than allele frequency trends) and warns against simple interpretations of demographic collapse from sparse, modern data.
Devin Reese
2026.01.13
55% relevant
Both pieces use hard, ancient proxies to revise narratives about deep‑time biology and environment: the listed idea demonstrates how ancient genomics can change long‑run evolutionary claims; this article uses ancient halite air inclusions to produce a comparable revision to atmospheric and climate history that will affect hypotheses about biological evolution over the Mesoproterozoic.
Davide Piffer
2025.12.01
72% relevant
Like the ancient‑allele time‑series for a 'sexlessness' SNP, this article uses ancient genomes to track trait‑associated allele frequency change (skin pigmentation) through prehistory and the Iron Age, showing how ancient genomic time series can detect selection and temporal trends.
Davide Piffer
2025.10.05
100% relevant
Weighted linear model across 47 binned time slices (≤12k BP) shows the sexlessness‑increasing A1 allele frequency steadily declining toward the present.