Kamikaze bacteria illustrate evolution of cooperation

sea-maid submitted, created time 2 months 4 weeks (www.nature.com)

Bacteria can commit suicide to help their brethren establish more damaging infections — and scientists think that they can explain how this behaviour evolved.

The phenomenon, called self-destructive cooperation, can help bacteria such as Salmonella typhimurium and Clostridium difficile to establish a stronghold in the gut.

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Eusocial insects could have started with monogamous pairs

Darkfrog submitted, created time 5 months 3 weeks (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

After reading all those depressing articles about how even monogamous species like swans and wolves cheat on their partners, this one was a bit refreshing. The authors posit that monogamy might be the foundation of cooperative species, at least in the beginning. These findings support the idea that cooperative insects group together because of the chance to let a sister pass on her genes and less because of straight survival.

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Ruthlessness gene discovered

jane2007 submitted, created time 7 months 2 weeks (www.nature.com)

Now there is a scientific excuse for the ruthlessness of selfish dictators. They can owe their behaviour partly to their genes, according to a study.

3 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: vasopressin ruthlessness dictators game theory dictator game psychology human behavior AVPR1a altruism science and culture

It's True--Money buys happiness

Listen to the Three-Alarm Jay

DanyC submitted, created time 10 months 1 week (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

This is an impressive accomplishment for the jays,and they have a third call--a combination of low and high sounds--that distinguishes a hunting hawk in the sky that is looking for prey from a hawk that has spotted its next meal and has begun a downward attack dive.
Woo...such alam can do a lot of thing than we ever thought before.

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Wasp genetics study suggests altruism evolved from maternal behavior

scott submitted, created time 1 year 1 month (www.eurekalert.org)

Researchers at the University of Illinois have used an innovative approach to reveal the molecular basis of altruistic behavior in wasps. Their findings appear today online in Science Express.

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Brain gets a thrill from charity

daphne submitted, created time 1 year 5 months (www.cnn.com)

Have you ever think over your psychological condition regarding to the charity? Research shows that: Giving money to charity activates brain pleasure centers; Pleasure occurred when giving was mandatory; more when it was by choice; Pleasure was in areas for basic needs: food, sex, shelter, social connection; Researcher: Pleasure in mandatory giving suggests existence of pure altruism

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Altruism is associated with an increased neural response to agency

nomad submitted, created time 1 year 9 months (www.nature.com)

Although the neural mechanisms underlying altruism remain unknown, empathy and its component abilities, such as the perception of the actions and intentions of others, have been proposed as key contributors. Tasks requiring the perception of agency activate the posterior superior temporal cortex (pSTC), particularly in the right hemisphere. Here, we demonstrate that differential activation of the human pSTC during action perception versus action performance predicts self-reported altruism.

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