Use well‑established, geographically patterned phenotypes (e.g., skin pigmentation north–south clines) as positive controls to test whether polygenic scores applied to ancient genomes recover expected spatial patterns before using them to infer novel historical selection on more contentious traits.
— If ancient PGS can be validated against known clines, claims about historical genetic change (including on politically fraught traits) gain empirical credibility and deserve public attention and cautious policy discussion.
Razib Khan
2026.01.16
90% relevant
Piffer’s work directly exemplifies the recommendation to validate polygenic scores on ancient genomes using well‑understood geographic phenotypes (e.g., pigmentation clines). He describes technical choices (imputation, ancient→modern projection) and reports selection signals for pigmentation that must be cross‑checked against known clines — precisely the control strategy the existing idea prescribes.
Davide Piffer
2026.01.15
85% relevant
Both this article and that idea focus on method‑level provenance for genetic comparisons: the article shows how reporting a single ‘percent‑identity’ without specifying alignment scope or variant classes is misleading—matching the existing idea’s call to validate population/genetic claims against well‑known, geographically grounded controls (e.g., pigmentation clines) before publicizing them.
Aporia
2026.01.10
85% relevant
The ancient+modern DNA test of latitudinal psychology hypotheses exemplifies the call to validate ancient‑DNA PGS against known geographic clines and positive controls before drawing broad behavioral conclusions—the article shows the attenuation after controlling for ancestry, exactly the sort of robustness check urged by this idea.
Davide Piffer
2026.01.10
88% relevant
Piffer’s use of Procrustes alignment to map contemporary genetic coordinates onto geography and to interpret residual displacement is methodologically allied with the proposal to validate ancient polygenic score (PGS) claims using known geographic clines as positive controls. Both argue for provenance checks (testing methods on well‑understood spatial genetic signals) before making larger historical or policy inferences from genetics.
Davide Piffer
2026.01.08
85% relevant
Piffer projects a retinal‑pigmentation polygenic score onto thousands of ancient European genomes and traces temporal and latitudinal changes—precisely the kind of ancient‑PGS validation the existing idea calls for (using known geographic clines and ancient samples as positive controls to check PGS inferences). He specifically replicates and extends Yuan et al.’s modern result with ancient data, showing how ancient projection can reveal counterintuitive selection patterns.
Davide Piffer
2026.01.07
88% relevant
The article and the Yuan et al. study both tackle how to test polygenic signals while controlling for geography; the piece’s emphasis on using an independently derived phenotype (DeepGRP) and formal tests against demographic covariance echoes the matched idea’s call to validate polygenic‑score inferences against known geographic patterns (e.g., pigmentation or latitude clines) before claiming selection.
Davide Piffer
2026.01.06
86% relevant
Piffer’s work exactly implements the control exercise urged by that idea: use well‑understood geographic clines (here latitude/longitude vs PC1/PC2) to validate what genetic summaries mean before making stronger historical or predictive claims.
Davide Piffer
2026.01.04
85% relevant
The article performs the same kind of cross‑population genomic calibration the existing idea advocates: it uses a well‑documented phenotypic difference (Marsican bears’ tolerance of humans) and dated divergence (≈2–3k years) to test whether genomic signals of selection are detectable over short historical spans — exactly the approach recommended for validating ancient polygenic inferences.
Davide Piffer
2026.01.02
90% relevant
Both pieces emphasise using positive controls and known geographic/phenotypic clines to validate genetic inferences before making broad claims; this article's argument that mean DAF metrics and polarization must be tested against known patterns (and checked for ascertainment bias) maps directly to the validation strategy advocated in the existing idea.
Razib Khan
2025.12.01
45% relevant
The Pompeii dataset is another instance where methodological rigor in ancient genomics matters: analyses of Roman‑era genomes require the same validation safeguards (positive controls, spatiotemporal clines, provenance checks) urged by the 'Validate Ancient PGS' idea to avoid overinterpretation of population labels or trait inferences.
Davide Piffer
2025.12.01
100% relevant
Piffer applies a Pan‑UK Biobank multi‑ancestry skin‑colour GWAS to 86 modern populations and ancient genomes, showing the PGS reproduces modern latitudinal gradients and an Iron‑Age acceleration toward lighter skin.