Evolving Economics “Gandolfi, Gandolfi and Barash’s Economics as an Evolutionary Science” Great commentary on the fitness-maximizing behavior (or lack thereof) by the ultra-rich. Clearly humans are maximizing something other than their genetic fitness when they seek utility.
A Minor Post, Cultural Evolution, Economics, Memetic FitnessInterface “A model balancing cooperation and competition can explain our right-handed world and the dominance of left-handed athletes“
A Minor Post, Competition, Cooperation, Evolutionary Modeling, Web…you know that it has gotten into the mind of the public. University of Oxford course “Evolution of Cooperation and Cheating: From Microbes to Humans“
A Minor Post, Cooperation, Evolution EducationThe July issue of Scientific American features a cover story written by Martin A. Nowak called “Why We Help“. This very short article contains a brief review of Nowak’s “five rules” for cooperation, a little bit of connection to experimental work in real organisms, and some hazy conjecture concerning what makes humans cooperate. It seems as Read More
A Major Post, Anthropogenic Change, Articles, Behavior, Climate Change, Cooperation, Evolution, Evolutionary Modeling, Game Theory, Group Selection, Human Evolution, Human Nature, Kin Selection, Punishment, Reciprocity, Social NetworksScientific American July issue
A Minor Post, CooperationNature “Engineering H5N1 avian influenza viruses to study human adaptation” I think that the most interesting idea expressed by this article is: In considering the threat of bioterrorism or accidental release of genetically engineered viruses, it is worth remembering that nature is the ultimate bioterrorist. There is so much in this single statement, so many Read More
A Minor Post, Cultural Evolution, ParasitismBiology Letters “Emasculation: gloves-off strategy enhances eunuch spider endurance” Nature Research Highlights “Castration boosts spider stamina“
A Minor Post, Articles, Sex and ReproductionNew Scientist “Lost toad comes back from the dead” ScienceShot “‘Vanished’ Toad Sighted“
A Minor Post, Conservation Biology, Extinction, WebProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences “Delayed paternal age of reproduction in humans is associated with longer telomeres across two generations of descendants” Science Daily “Offspring of Older Fathers May Live Longer” What I find fascinating here is the hypothesized adaptive value of this genetic discovery: telomeres may be a molecular mechanism by which Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Genetics, Human Evolution, SenescenceProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences “Functional diversity within the simple gut microbiota of the honey bee“
A Minor Post, Articles, Coevolution, Mutualism
