Resumen de The gallant ant
Spinney talks about Elise Nowbahari, who believes that if evidence of genuine altruism is rare in the wild, that is simply because biologists have not searched for it systematically. She is part of a new vanguard of researchers exploring selfless behavior in animals in the lab. Nowbahari's experiments at the University of Paris-North in France are certainly systematic--if a little unkind--and the behavior they reveal puts human goodwill in the shade. Altruism is a behavior of an individual that benefits another at its own expense. Biologists have been arguing over its prevalence among animals for decades, but Nowbahari was blissfully unaware of the debate when she stumbled into the minefield.
