Animal Algorithms

Some birds, sea turtles, and insects find their way across vast distances with a precision that matches the finest human-made guidance systems. How did the honey bee come to perform its waggle dance, and how do other bees decode it? Blind termites build mounds that regulate temperature without any power source, a feat that impresses trained architects. Charles Darwin admitted that these instincts were remarkable, and he worried that their origin might be a problem serious enough to undermine his entire theory. Eric Cassell reviews recent research on animal instincts and argues that this problem has not gone away. In his view, it poses a far greater obstacle to evolutionary theory than Darwin ever imagined.