Relatedness is relative: How can I be 85% genetically similar to my mom, but only related to her by half?

First of all, no. I am not the lovechild of star-crossed siblings, or even cousins, or even second cousins.  This is a gee-whiz kind of pos...

altruismancestrycooperationgenes for behaviorHamilton's ruleholly dunsworthinclusive fitnesskin selectionrelatednessselfishnesssociobiology

Life in 'trans'-it: Why genomic causation is often so elusive

W e are in a time when genes are in the daily news, with reports of how this gene or that gene is related to disease, evolution, race, ances...

causal complexitycis-complexitycooperationgene functiontrans-

And there will be humans no more? A review-ish of Greg Graffin's "Population Wars"

Perhaps best known as the leader of Bad Religion , Greg Graffin is also an evolution scholar. His latest book,  Population Wars,  is out tod...

anthropocenebook reviewcooperationenvironmentalismevolutionextinctionholly dunsworthpunkrock

Organisms with fuzzy borders

Everyone's on the human microbiome story these days -- the bacteria in our gut that make us fat, thin, sick, well -- but a new paper i...

cooperationsymbionts

What is an organism? Lessons from bacteria on cooperation in life

The battle against antibiotic resistance is in the news a lot lately, because if our over-use of antibiotics causes resistance to evolve, we...

antibiotic resistancecooperationevolutionquorum sensing

Cooperation might actually be ... cooperation

Cooperation, altruism, anything but self-interest, have long been perplexing to true Darwinians.  According to theory, cooperation can't...

altruismcooperationreciprocityselfishness

Cooperating, with Lynn Margulis -- nostra culpa

We recently heard Lynn Margulis interviewed on another BBC radio program we like, Best of Natural History, in an episode that aired last sum...

cooperationevolutionGaiaLynn Margulis