Epstein Secrets

died insects, particularly ants, for a half-century. Ants are a hugely successful species, accounting for about 50 percent of the insect biomass on Earth. One of the traits that drives their success is altruism. Simply put, ants help each other out. And that hard-wired behavior gives the whole species

ibes kin selection mathematically, which helps evolutionary biologists model the effects of kin selection. But in the paper he wrote with Nowak and Corina Tarnita, another researcher at the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Wilson denounced inclusive fitness. "Our calculations struck it down," explained Nowa

died insects, particularly ants, for a half-century. Ants are a hugely successful species, accounting for about 50 percent of the insect biomass on Earth. One of the traits that drives their success is altruism. Simply put, ants help each other out. And that hard-wired behavior gives the whole species

ibes kin selection mathematically, which helps evolutionary biologists model the effects of kin selection. But in the paper he wrote with Nowak and Corina Tarnita, another researcher at the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Wilson denounced inclusive fitness. "Our calculations struck it down," explained Nowa

s, of which Nowak is director. Nowak finishes with his concern for our planet, and of how Mahler's symphony Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) carries a deep resonance for him. He wor- ries about the climate game that every- one is now playing. "I believe that climate change will force us

etic relatives in preference to strangers. Nowak set out his objections to this theory last year in a controversial Nature paper, co- authored with Corina Tarnita and Edward O. Wilson (Nature466, 1057-1062;2010). They question the theoretical basis of kin selection, or inclusive fitness theory: one of the co