On Sunday, this year’s edition of SMBE starts in Gold Coast Australia. I’m very excited not just because of flying to Australia (thanks to Wenner-Gren for the money): Emma, Helena, Cris and I organized a session entitled “Ancient DNA and the effects of human innovation on genomes”. Emma and I will host that session on site and we have some pretty exciting talks lined up. The session is on July 7th from 10:30am – 12:30pm in Room 6.

In addition to that, Cris will be presenting our results on Neolithic Iberia, where we see some interesting local patterns – both geographical and temporal (July 7th, 12:00 pm). Emma is presenting a poster on a Neolithic Scandinavian dog and how it relates to modern dog breeds. Finally, I will be talking on Wednesday afternoon (4:30pm – 6:30pm, also Room 6) about Cris’ and my results from two medieval Moroccans. They represent the first ancient genomic DNA from Northern Africa and they look like a unique mix up of populations. We don’t really know what they are but I will present the genetic results and discuss possibilities (slaves, soldiers, something else?).

I’m looking forward to some exciting talks and posters, to have some interesting discussions, meet old friends and make new ones. See you Down under!!!