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PifferPilfer

Exploring archaeogenetics, polygenic scores, intelligence, personality, fertility, and the little quirks of culture - from birth rates to coffee and tea

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Local Jōmon Ancestry in Japanese Genomes

Long before rice paddies, samurai or the first Japanese state, the archipelago was home to hunter-gatherer-fishers now called the Jōmon.

Did Genetic Decline Contribute to the Late Bronze Age Collapse in Greece?

After Troy

Painting Geographic Maps with DNA

Bringing back Cavalli-Sforza's RGB maps

What Changed in Anatolia When the Turks Arrived?

Few places have been transformed as visibly as medieval Anatolia.

Can Skin, Hair and Eyes Tell You Where Someone’s Ancestors Came From?

A genetic test of what appearance reveals between countries, and how much less it reveals among individuals within the same country.

How Much Did the Slavic Migrations Change Greece?

The genetic legacy is real, but it is not the same in every part of the country

Are Dogs Replacing Children?

Testing the Boss Baby Hypothesis

What Have Neanderthals Done for Us? The Claims That Survive a Fact Check

The story that sent me looking

How “Aryan” Are South Asians?

A follow-up to the India post, testing its qpAdm design and a Sarazm alternative in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Haryana

The Genetic Geography of Patience

Across 49 countries, nine measures point the same way—but the signal weakens after accounting for population history

Did the “Neanderthal Muscle Gene” Really Turn Modern Humans into Muscle Heads?

A real molecular effect, a relatively large single-SNP association, and the limits of a catchy label

How Aryan Are Indians?

Steppe ancestry, the Indus substrate, and why India has no single answer

Can Genes Help Countries Get Rich?

A genetic test of one of the oldest questions in economics

AI Isn’t Outthinking Mathematicians. It’s Out-Remembering Them.

The key advantage may not be superior reasoning, but a virtually unlimited symbolic working memory.

Female Farmers, Jōmon Men, and the Hidden Polygyny Assumption

A new genetic study argues that continental women, not unusually successful Jōmon men, created Japan’s sex-biased ancestry.

Genes, Meat, or Soy: What Best Predicts Human Height?

Average height at age 18 is partly inherited and is also an imperfect cumulative marker of growth conditions from prenatal life through adolescence.