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Unicolonial Ants Pose Challenge to “Selfish Gene” Theory
Unicolonial ants, such as these Argentine ants (Linepithema humile), are genetically unrelated but will cooperate to defeat a much larger adversary. Source: Alex Wild / Live Science It has been a...
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Laboratory Evidence for the Breakdown of the Selfish Gene
My previous post on a potential problem for the selfish gene theory in explaining cooperative behavior resulted in a fair amount of heated discussion. However, there are quite a few misconceptions...
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The Sacrifice of Admetus: How the Evolution of Altruism Reveals our Noblest...
Heracles battles Death for generosity’s sake / Frederic Lord Leighton (1869-71) Whereas great scientific theories stand the test of time when they accurately predict the natural world through repeated...
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Survival of the Kindest
Seed magazine has just posted my review of Frans de Waal’s The Age of Empathy: Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society. I wanted to use this opportunity to thank Nikki, Evan, Bora and everyone else that...
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Helpful Cichlids in the Gladiator’s Show
Image: The Daffodil Cichlid of Lake Tanganyika / Koen Eeckhoudt In 1888 “Darwin’s Bulldog”, Thomas Henry Huxley, declared that nature was little more than a “gladiator’s show” whereby only “the...
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Punishing Cheaters Promotes the Evolution of Cooperation
Author’s Note: This post was selected as the topic for the ResearchBlogCast as part of ResearchBlogging.org. Listen to the discussion here. Could punishing bad behavior be the origin...
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Prestigious Chimps and the Emergence of Cultural Innovation
New research finds chimpanzees follow prestigious models when learning new tasks. Monika Thorpe / Creative Commons If one were to play psychiatrist to the natural world, most human beings...
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