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At 17:18 09/06/2005, you wrote:
>an excellent discussion on fitness.  The author, Jay Hosler, a biology
>professor at Juniata College in PA reminds his readers that fitness is
>defined only by how many offspring you have.

...more precisely, by how many of your genes, or genes closely similar to 
yours, survive in the gene-pool of future generations. Which is why, it has 
been suggested, natural-selection has favoured our willingness to risk our 
own lives in order to rescue or defend a relative. And why non-reproductive 
worker ants, which are all sisters, instinctively lay down their lives so 
readily for the colony, safeguarding the future transmission of their own 
genes.


[log in to unmask] * http://www.interactives.co.uk
*
Give people facts and you feed their minds for an hour.
Awaken curiosity and they feed their own minds for a lifetime.
*
Ian Russell  

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