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Old Marks

The epigenome can be detected in some ancient human remains, the New Scientist reports. Following a report last year that DNA methylation could be detected in 26,000-year-old bison bones, the University of Texas at Austin's Rick Smith collected a number of ancient human remains for testing. He presented his work last week at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Knoxville, Tenn., New Scientist adds.

Smith, the New Scientist reports, compared the methylation state of the 30 samples, which ranged in age from 200 years old to 6,000 years old, with samples from modern humans. "Comparison of the methylation patterns with modern humans yielded similarities in 27 of the samples," it adds. Harvard University's Adrian Briggs points out, though, that methylation patterns vary from tissue to tissue and that with only bone samples, the full epigenome of ancient humans won't be able to be constructed.

The Scan

ChatGPT Does As Well As Humans Answering Genetics Questions, Study Finds

Researchers in the European Journal of Human Genetics had ChatGPT answer genetics-related questions, finding it was about 68 percent accurate, but sometimes gave different answers to the same question.

Sequencing Analysis Examines Gene Regulatory Networks of Honeybee Soldier, Forager Brains

Researchers in Nature Ecology & Evolution find gene regulatory network differences between soldiers and foragers, suggesting bees can take on either role.

Analysis of Ashkenazi Jewish Cohort Uncovers New Genetic Loci Linked to Alzheimer's Disease

The study in Alzheimer's & Dementia highlighted known genes, but also novel ones with biological ties to Alzheimer's disease.

Tara Pacific Expedition Project Team Finds High Diversity Within Coral Reef Microbiome

In papers appearing in Nature Communications and elsewhere, the team reports on findings from the two-year excursion examining coral reefs.