E.O. Wilson, often dubbed “the father of sociobiology,” co-authored a controversial article entitled “The Evolution of Eusociality,” which appeared in the popular scientific journal, Nature, in 2010. Waves of criticism followed its publication, including a review co-signed by 103 scientists, which criticized the article for condemning inclusive fitness theory and for failing to offer a suitable alternative. While Nowak et al. expose the limitations of inclusive fitness theory, they fail to provide an alternative mathematical model to describe altruistic evolution. Such mathematical models exist, most notably described by Nowak in SuperCooperators, but Nowak et al.’s failure to reference such models severely undermines the merit of their proposal.
JULIE HAMMOND is a physics major at Boston University. In 2014, she studied abroad at the University of Geneva and performed optical pumping simulations of copper isotopes at CERN. After graduation, she plans to teach high school physics, and eventually attend graduate school in immunology. In her spare time, she enjoys playing with her guinea pig and practicing Zen meditation.