Largest-Ever Ancient-DNA Study: Natural Selection Has Accelerated in Recent Human Evolution (Field Milestone)

Researchers including M. Akbari and David Reich of the Broad Institute and Harvard Medical School have completed the largest ancient-DNA time-series study to date, published in Nature. The analysis draws on roughly 15,836 ancient genomes — 10,016 of them newly reported — spanning more than 10,000 years.

A caveat up front: the samples come mainly from West Asian–Eurasian populations, not from East Asia. We include this item because it is a methodological milestone for the ancient-genomics field, not because it presents a new East Asian finding.

Using a new statistical approach to detect directional trends in allele frequencies, the authors find that directional natural selection over the last 10,000 years occurred far more often than previously known. Only about 21 selection events had been confidently identified before; the new time series adds many more.

The authors stress that ancient DNA does more than write history: by tracking selection signals, it can reveal the pressures that shaped modern human genomes and medical traits, bridging evolutionary history and contemporary medicine.

Source: Broad Institute. Massive ancient-DNA study reveals natural selection has accelerated, 2026-04-15.