books, evolution

Evolving, The Moral Molecule, Aping Mankind, and Experiment Eleven

Consciousness, The Social Conquest of Earth, How Not to Be Eaten, and Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms

Studying the evolution of altruistic behaviors reveals how knee-jerk good intentions can backfire.

In Chapter 1, editors Barbara Oakley, Ariel Knafo, and Michael McGrath introduce the concept of well-intentioned behaviors that go awry.

Should we rethink the parallel drawn between “slave-making” ants and human slavery, and other such oversimplifications of animal behavior?

Researchers studying differences in how individuals respond to stress are finding that genes are malleable and environments can be deterministic.

Exposing the life and work of a visionary and troubled scientist opens a window onto the evolution of altruism.

In Chapter 9, "We Were Hunted, Which is Why All of Us are Afraid Some of the Time and Some of Us are Afraid All of the Time," author Rob Dunn explains how predators shaped our evolution as we cowered and ran from their ravenous maws.

Whose well-being is threatened by our changing relationship with the myriad organisms that shaped the evolution of our species?

A book is born from pondering why sexual selection was, for so long, a minor component of evolutionary biology.

In Chapter 2, "Progressive Desire," author Erika Lorraine Milam explores sexual selection’s incursion into evolutionary theory.