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Today we explore a dif­fer­ent way of look­ing at evo­lu­tion and what it may mean for the course of science.

First, when a female ani­mal is check­ing out her prospects, nat­ur­al selec­tion would dic­tate that she pay atten­tion to how healthy, or strong, or fit he is. But when it comes to find­ing a mate, some ani­mals seem to be engaged in a very dif­fer­ent game. What if a female were look­ing for some­thing else — some­thing that has noth­ing to do with fit­ness? Something…beautiful?

Then, a tree full of blood-suck­ing bats lends a star­tling twist to our under­stand­ing of altru­ism and nat­ur­al selec­tion. How can good­ness and self-sac­ri­fice thrive in a world that Dar­win tells us ought to favour self­ish­ness? We fol­low up on that idea with Jer­ry Wilkin­son, chair of biol­o­gy at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land-Col­lege Park, who describes an amaz­ing dis­cov­ery he made in 1977 that revealed an entire­ly new way of explain­ing selflessness.