Now that all the cool biology students wear skinny jeans and talk that superorganism jive, I'd just like to say: Wired Science was there first.

In today's New York Times profile of legendary evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson, Nicholas Wade describes Wilson's new fight:

The issue is the level at which evolution operates. Many evolutionary biologists have been persuaded, by works like “The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins, that the gene is the only level at which natural selection acts. Dr. Wilson, changing his mind because of new data about the genetics of ant colonies, now believes that natural selection operates at many levels, including at the level of a social group.

I started covering group-level selection last summer, when the behavior of bass parasites in my parents' pond made me wonder how characteristics that emerge through population-level interactions fit within the rubric of evolution.

Out of those musings came a series of posts on evolution and complexity, eventually culminating in a feature article, "Biologists Take Evolution Beyond Darwin — Way Beyond." If you're interested, here's the whole series:

*Image: Kiron

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WiSci 2.0: Brandon Keim's Twitter and Del.icio.us feeds; Wired Science on Facebook.