Monday, June 23, 2008

bee sting

The sterility of worker bee females was regarded as an evolutionary conundrum until sociobiologists suggested that natural selection may favour worker behaviour that assists their queenly sisters who share most of their DNA. Now it seems that some researchers have identified a region of the honeybees genome that affects fertility.
That’s great and we all look forward to the published study. But this doesnt seem to have much more to do with the selfish gene concept than any of the other hundred other genetics papers published every week and the serially reprinted press release just seems to be an attempt to cash in on Richard Dawkins' current fame/notoriety.

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