life inspired

"Evolutionary biologists have struggled to explain self-sacrificing behavior, which seems to defy survival of the fittest. Simulations of “evolving” robots have now confirmed an explanation posed by biologist W. D. Hamilton in the 1960s: We tend to help those who are more closely related to us because they can pass on more of our genes." Full news piece @ Science. Also see full article:

Waibel M, Floreano D, Keller L, [2011]. "A Quantitative Test of Hamilton's Rule for the Evolution of Altruism". PLoS Biol 9(5): e1000615. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000615