Do the Genes of Warriors Win the Evolution Battle?
“War—what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again.” So runs the 1970 pop song that Edwin Starr made famous and that’s now the obligatory soundtrack for every documentary about the…
Evolutionary Biology
Loss of Altruism (and A Body Plan) Without A Loss of Genes
The evolutionary loss of the ‘altruistic’ worker caste in ants is not accompanied by a loss of genes, an international team of researchers has found. The results reported in this…
The Evolutionary Link Between Diet and Stomach Acidity
An analysis of data on stomach acidity and diet in birds and mammals suggests that high levels of stomach acidity developed not to help animals break down food, but to…
Diverse Parental Genes Lead to Taller, Smarter Children, Finds Extensive Study
Those who are born to parents from diverse genetic backgrounds tend to be faster-thinking and taller than others, a new study led by Dr Peter Joshi of the University of…
Signs of Democracy Seen in Typically Authoritarian Baboon Society
When it’s time to travel, wild olive baboons make democratic decisions about where to go, even though they live in hierarchical societies. The discovery is a surprise, researchers report online…
Chimpanzees May Know When They Are Right and Move to Prove It
Chimpanzees are capable of metacognition, or thinking about one’s own thinking, and can adjust their behavior accordingly, researchers at Georgia State University, Agnes Scott College, Wofford College and the University…