social insects

Researchers say they've figured out how some reproductive ants live up to 30 years—far longer than workers.

The transcription factor can also drive the opposite transition depending on which hormone activates it, according to a new study.

After the initial announcements of two retractions, scientists have mobilized to interrogate the data in nearly 150 of Jonathan Pruitt’s papers.

Watch soldier ants behave more like foragers after scientists change their gene expression.

Bumblebee colonies grow poorly in landscapes dominated by maize, researchers find.

Social insects kill infected individuals for the benefit of the colony—and now a study has shown how they know who’s sick.

A molecular biologist ventures into entomology to use genetically modified ants as laboratory models of behavioral epigenetics.

Researchers re-examine the evidence for DNA methylation as the cause of behavioral differences among social insects.

Carnivorous pitcher plants gobble more ants by turning off their traps in dry weather.

Researchers aim to unravel the molecular mechanisms by which a single genotype gives rise to diverse castes in eusocial organisms.

Extending her initial studies of social wasps, Mary Jane West-Eberhard has spent her career probing the evolutionary relationship between social behavior and developmental flexibility.

What researchers are learning as they sequence, map, and decode species’ genomes

Debating the origins of placental mammals; H. pylori-human coevolution; ant, bee, and wasp queens emit similar pheromones; profiling protein expression in single cancer cells

Ant, bee, and wasp queens emit a similar class of pheromones that sterilize their workers, hinting at a shared ancestry for these chemicals.

Socially parasitic ants can serve as protective symbionts for their fungus-growing hosts in the face of attacks by predatory raiding species.