Ecological challenges such as finding food and creating fire may have led the organ to become abnormally large, a new computer model suggests.

The forces of supply and demand appear influence paper wasp (Polistes dominula) populations. When more nest options are available, helper wasps work fewer hours to earn membership in a colony.

Why does cooperation evolve most often in monogamous animals?

Some thoughts on going to the Galápagos

An experimental evolution study shows that more cheaters arise when bread mold fungal cells are less related to one another.

A round-up of recent discoveries in behavior research

Meet some of the people featured in the January 2016 issue of The Scientist.

Understanding the biological roots of cooperation might help resolve some of the biggest scientific challenges we face.

What can social networks among hunter-gatherers in Tanzania teach us about how cooperation evolved in human populations?

How organisms keep their biological partners from cheating

A round-up of recent discoveries in behavior research

Biologists demonstrate the instability of employing a selfish strategy in the prisoner’s dilemma game.

Researchers show that a bacterium’s self-sacrifice can benefit its community, even when the members are not strongly related.

The sculptures of Mara G. Haseltine's new exhibition tell a tale of beautiful oceans ravaged by pollution.

Artist Mara G. Haseltine unveils her latest exhibition of science-inspired sculpture, a melancholy ode to marine plankton set to the music of Puccini.

Physicists and biologists are working together to understand cooperation at all levels of life, from the cohesion of molecules to interspecies interactions.