Charitable giving as a signal of trustworthiness: Disentangling the signaling benefits of altruistic acts

It has been shown that psychological predispositions to benefit others can motivate human cooperation and the evolution of such social preferences can be explained with kin or multi-level selection models. It has also been shown that cooperation can evolve as a costly signal of an unobservable quality that makes a person more attractive with regard to other types of social interactions. Here we show that if a proportion of individuals with social preferences is maintained in the population through kin or multi-level selection, cooperative acts that are truly altruistic can be a costly signal of social preferences and make altruistic individuals more trustworthy interaction partners in social exchange. In a computerized laboratory experiment, we test whether altruistic behavior in the form of charitable giving is indeed correlated with trustworthiness and whether a charitable donation increases the observing agents' trust in the donor. Our results support these hypotheses and show that, apart from trust, responses to altruistic acts can have a rewarding or outcome-equalizing purpose. Our findings corroborate that the signaling benefits of altruistic acts that accrue in social exchange can ease the conditions for the evolution of social preferences.     

Dancing between the devil and deep blue sea: the stabilizing effect of enemy-free and victimless sinks

Theoretical and empirical studies have shown that enemy–victim interactions in spatially homogenous environments can exhibit diverging oscillations which result in the extinction of one or both species. For enemy–victim models with overlapping generations, we investigate the dynamical implications of spatial heterogeneity created by enemy-free sinks or victimless sinks. An enemy-free sink is a behavioral, physiological or ecological state that reduces or eliminates the victim's vulnerability to the enemy but cannot sustain the victim population. For victims that move in an ideal-free manner, we prove that the inclusion of an enemy-free sink shifts the population dynamics from diverging oscillations to stable oscillations. During these stable oscillations, the victim disperses in an oscillatory manner between the enemy-free sink and the enemy-occupied patch. Enemy-free sinks with lower mortality rates exhibit oscillations with smaller amplitudes and longer periods. A victimless sink, on the other hand, is a behavioral, physiological or ecological state in which the enemy has limited (or no) access to its victims. For enemies that move in an ideal-free manner, we prove that victimless sinks also stabilize diverging oscillations. Simulations suggest that suboptimal behavior due to information gathering or learning limitations amplify oscillations for systems with enemy-free sinks and dampen oscillations for systems with victimless sinks. These results illustrate that the coupling of a sink created by unstable enemy–victim interactions and a sink created by unsuitable environmental conditions can result in population persistence at the landscape level.     

Fasting-Mimicking Diet Modulates Microbiota and Promotes Intestinal Regeneration to Reduce Inflammatory Bowel Disease Pathology

1. Download high-res image (193KB)
2. Download full-size image

     

Tubulin transport by IFT is upregulated during ciliary growth by a cilium-autonomous mechanism

The assembly of the axoneme, the structural scaffold of cilia and flagella, requires translocation of a vast quantity of tubulin into the growing cilium, but the mechanisms that regulate the targeting, quantity, and timing of tubulin transport are largely unknown. In Chlamydomonas, GFP-tagged α-tubulin enters cilia as an intraflagellar transport (IFT) cargo and by diffusion. IFT-based transport of GFP-tubulin is elevated in growing cilia and IFT trains carry more tubulin. Cells possessing both nongrowing and growing cilia selectively target GFP-tubulin into the latter. The preferential delivery of tubulin boosts the concentration of soluble tubulin in the matrix of growing versus steady-state cilia. Cilia length mutants show abnormal kinetics of tubulin transport. We propose that cells regulate the extent of occupancy of IFT trains by tubulin cargoes. During ciliary growth, IFT concentrates soluble tubulin in cilia and thereby promotes elongation of the axonemal microtubules.     

The importance of individual nucleotides for the structure and function of rRNA molecules in E. coli. A mutagenesis study

Methods of in vitro mutagenesis were employed to determine the importance of individual nucleotides within the ribosomal RNAs for the structure and function of E. coli ribosomes. A series of defined nucleotides in the genes for the 5 S and 16 S RNA were altered by transition and transversion mutations using either oligonucleotide-directed or bisulfite-catalyzed mutation procedures. Plasmids harbouring the mutated rRNA genes were expressed and the ribosomes containing such altered RNAs were investigated for impairments in RNA-protein interaction assembly and mRNA-coded tRNA binding.     

Measuring the unknown: An estimator and simulation study for assessing case reporting during epidemics

The fraction of cases reported, known as ‘reporting’, is a key performance indicator in an outbreak response, and an essential factor to consider when modelling epidemics and assessing their impact on populations. Unfortunately, its estimation is inherently difficult, as it relates to the part of an epidemic which is, by definition, not observed. We introduce a simple statistical method for estimating reporting, initially developed for the response to Ebola in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), 2018–2020. This approach uses transmission chain data typically gathered through case investigation and contact tracing, and uses the proportion of investigated cases with a known, reported infector as a proxy for reporting. Using simulated epidemics, we study how this method performs for different outbreak sizes and reporting levels. Results suggest that our method has low bias, reasonable precision, and despite sub-optimal coverage, usually provides estimates within close range (5–10%) of the true value. Being fast and simple, this method could be useful for estimating reporting in real-time in settings where person-to-person transmission is the main driver of the epidemic, and where case investigation is routinely performed as part of surveillance and contact tracing activities.     

The breakthrough paradox: How focusing on one form of innovation jeopardizes the advancement of science

Research needs a balance of risk‐taking in “breakthrough projects” and gradual progress. For building a sustainable knowledge base, it is indispensable to provide support for both. Subject Categories: Careers, Economics, Law & Politics, Science Policy & Publishing

Science is about venturing into the unknown to find unexpected insights and establish new knowledge. Increasingly, academic institutions and funding agencies such as the European Research Council (ERC) explicitly encourage and support scientists to foster risky and hopefully ground‐breaking research. Such incentives are important and have been greatly appreciated by the scientific community. However, the success of the ERC has had its downsides, as other actors in the funding ecosystem have adopted the ERC’s focus on “breakthrough science” and respective notions of scientific excellence. We argue that these tendencies are concerning since disruptive breakthrough innovation is not the only form of innovation in research. While continuous, gradual innovation is often taken for granted, it could become endangered in a research and funding ecosystem that places ever higher value on breakthrough science. This is problematic since, paradoxically, breakthrough potential in science builds on gradual innovation. If the value of gradual innovation is not better recognized, the potential for breakthrough innovation may well be stifled.

While continuous, gradual innovation is often taken for granted, it could become endangered in a research and funding ecosystem that places ever higher value on breakthrough science.

Concerns that the hypercompetitive dynamics of the current scientific system may impede rather than spur innovative research have been voiced for many years (Alberts et al, 2014). As performance indicators continue to play a central role for promotions and grants, researchers are under pressure to publish extensively, quickly, and preferably in high‐ranking journals (Burrows, 2012). These dynamics increase the risk of mental health issues among scientists (Jaremka et al, 2020), dis‐incentivise relevant and important work (Benedictus et al, 2016), decrease the quality of scientific papers (Sarewitz, 2016) and induce conservative and short‐term thinking rather than risk‐taking and original thinking required for scientific innovation (Alberts et al, 2014; Fochler et al, 2016). Against this background, strong incentives for fostering innovative and daring research are indispensable.