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Pseudomonas Aeruginosa
Cooperation and Cheating
Bacteria cooperate to benefit the collective, but cheaters can rig the system. How is the balance maintained?
Cooperation and Cheating
Cooperation and Cheating

Bacteria cooperate to benefit the collective, but cheaters can rig the system. How is the balance maintained?

Bacteria cooperate to benefit the collective, but cheaters can rig the system. How is the balance maintained?

cooperation

Infographic showing strategies used by cooperators to curb the cheater population in a bacterial community
Infographic: Curbing the Cheaters 
Mariella Bodemeier Loayza Careaga, PhD | Jun 1, 2023 | 1 min read
From spatial structuring to policing, cooperative bacteria have a wide toolkit to contain the spread of cheaters.
Spherical colonies of <em>Vibrio splendidus&nbsp;</em>bacteria
Inside Versus Out: A New Form of Bacterial Cooperation
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Jul 20, 2022 | 5 min read
Oceanic bacteria form a transient spherical community to conquer large food sources, taking on different roles to break down the bounty more efficiently.
wolf pup
Image of the Day: Wolves Playing Fetch
Amy Schleunes | Jan 17, 2020 | 2 min read
A new study shows wolf pups responding to vocal encouragement from humans.
What Made Human Brains So Big?
Ashley Yeager | May 24, 2018 | 2 min read
Ecological challenges such as finding food and creating fire may have led the organ to become abnormally large, a new computer model suggests.
Image of the Day: Trade Deals
The Scientist Staff | Jan 24, 2017 | 1 min read
The forces of supply and demand appear influence paper wasp (Polistes dominula) populations. When more nest options are available, helper wasps work fewer hours to earn membership in a colony.
On Becoming Human
Mary Beth Aberlin | Aug 1, 2016 | 3 min read
Some thoughts on going to the Galápagos
Opinion: Monogamy and Cooperation Are Connected Through Multiple Links
David F. Westneat and Jacqueline R. Dillard | Aug 1, 2016 | 4 min read
Why does cooperation evolve most often in monogamous animals?
Multicellular Cooperation Curbs Cheating
Jenny Rood | Jul 1, 2016 | 2 min read
An experimental evolution study shows that more cheaters arise when bread mold fungal cells are less related to one another.
Behavior Brief
Catherine Offord | Mar 24, 2016 | 4 min read
A round-up of recent discoveries in behavior research
All Together Now
Mary Beth Aberlin | Jan 1, 2016 | 3 min read
Understanding the biological roots of cooperation might help resolve some of the biggest scientific challenges we face.
Contributors
Karen Zusi | Jan 1, 2016 | 3 min read
Meet some of the people featured in the January 2016 issue of The Scientist.
Inventing Teamwork
The Scientist Staff | Dec 31, 2015 | 1 min read
What can social networks among hunter-gatherers in Tanzania teach us about how cooperation evolved in human populations?
Maintaining Cooperation
R. Ford Denison and Katherine Muller | Dec 31, 2015 | 2 min read
How organisms keep their biological partners from cheating
Behavior Brief
Rina Shaikh-Lesko | Feb 27, 2014 | 4 min read
A round-up of recent discoveries in behavior research
A Twist in Evolutionary Game Theory
Kate Yandell | Aug 5, 2013 | 2 min read
Biologists demonstrate the instability of employing a selfish strategy in the prisoner’s dilemma game.
The Upside of Suicide
Sabrina Richards | Mar 20, 2013 | 3 min read
Researchers show that a bacterium’s self-sacrifice can benefit its community, even when the members are not strongly related.
La Bohème: A Portrait of Our Oceans in Peril
Graciela Flores | Mar 15, 2013 | 1 min read
The sculptures of Mara G. Haseltine's new exhibition tell a tale of beautiful oceans ravaged by pollution.
Love Song for an Ailing Planet
Graciela Flores | Mar 15, 2013 | 3 min read
Artist Mara G. Haseltine unveils her latest exhibition of science-inspired sculpture, a melancholy ode to marine plankton set to the music of Puccini.
Opinion: Cooperating to Study Cooperation
David Smith | Feb 20, 2013 | 3 min read
Physicists and biologists are working together to understand cooperation at all levels of life, from the cohesion of molecules to interspecies interactions.
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