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Forked Fungus Beetles Maybe they are your younger brother’s gang. Maybe they are the guys you hung out with in high school before you had your growth spurt and went off to college. Regardless of how you know them, chances are you can name a group of guys who live their lives like perpetual middle-schoolers, hanging out with each other but rarely dating and never really establishing long-term romantic relationships. A new study by evolutionary biologists from the University of Virginia’s College of Arts & Sciences takes a closer look at these males who live on the fringes of the social world in order to determine how social interactions shape and are shaped by natural selection. Like many other insects, forked fungus beetles live in complex societies. While most of them live highly engaged social lives, a surprising minority have a lot in common with the former members of your old garage band. You know; the ones who are always trying to get you to ditch the wife and kids and come hang out like you used to back in the good old days. These beetles spend most of their time in small groups composed solely of males. The biologists, led by Vince Formica and Butch Broody, could not help noticing what your wife remarked on from day one: The males in these groups were less likely to have encounters with females that lead to mating and reproduction. Formica and Brodie are interested in what happens in beetle societies because social interactions are inextricably intertwined with natural selection, which is Darwin’s term for the natural process that occurs when members of a species possess characteristics that help them survive and pass those beneficial characteristics on to their offspring. The flip side of the evolutionary coin is that characteristics that tend to get members of a species killed at an early age or that make them less likely to mate often die along with the childless individuals who possess them. Formica and Brodie, both from the University of Virginia’s College of Arts & Sciences, conducted their research on the evolution of social behavior by studying the society-in-miniature that is the milieu of the forked fungus beetle. Specifically, their team wondered whether a beetle’s social role had any connection to its chances of producing offspring. The results of their investigation were published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology . Forked fungus beetles were chosen as subjects because in addition to their rich social life, they were readily available for the researchers to study in the wild and they can easily be captured, tagged and observed. Once the beetles were tagged for easy tracking, the researchers were able to observe and map their social activities. The research team noticed that the beetles with the most active social lives had large social circles and had a lot of sexual encounters, leading to a lot of reproduction on their part. The males with small social circles made up of just a few males rarely had social encounters with females and had little opportunity to pass their genes on to a new generation. According to Formica, learning how social networks operate is crucial to understanding the evolution of societies. “We’ve shown that the trait of sociability is under natural selection, but we don’t know yet if it’s heritable,” he said. “This is one of only a few studies that have shown that position in a social network is a trait that can experience natural selection and therefore has the potential to evolve. It is clear in this study that being central in a large social network is key to high reproductive success. If a trait – such as an individual’s position in a network – is related to reproductive success, you can say it is experiencing natural selection and has the potential to evolve.” Related posts: Social Network Analysis and the Dynamics of Web-Based Networking [Study]

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Want More Sex? Widen Your Social Network, Beetle Research Says

“Math is hard!” cries Teen Talk Barbie. Those words made Matel revamp the doll so that she did not say she found math hard after protesters insisted that it was degrading to women. It turns out that they were right according to a study researched at the University of Missouri. According to the study titled, “Can stereotype threat explain the sex gap in mathematics performance and achievement?” there is no gender difference when it comes to math skills. Many people believe that women are worse at quantitative reasoning then men. In fact, it has become a theory so widely accepted that even a toy company felt compelled to agree and the stereotype has plagued women around the world. But, the research at the University of Missouri disproves the theory partly due to no evidence on the contrary. This stereotype has been fueled because there are typically more men in the higher tiers of in fields requiring math. And, previous studies on the subject have been conducted using wrongly projected statistics and no actual scientific base. The birth of this idea was thanks to an article found in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology printed in 1999. The idea was that due to a stereotype threat, women are doomed to be less superior than men in math. In turn, this makes women without confidence quantitative reasoning and less willing to develop math skills. The research found is going to be published in the Review of General Psychology as it explains the lack of fundamental controls in previous experiments. This was the basis of the study as researchers discovered past studies lacked proper statistics because males were not subjected to the same experiment varieties and controls as women. However, as a result of these finding, people accepted that women were worse off in math. As this theory persisted, many researchers dedicated their resources to fixing a problem that didn’t need fixing. Researchers have found that when a subject is told that they will not perform well on a difficult test, then the subject performs below average regardless of their sex. This recent study proves that there is no basis for the stereotype that men are better at math. Individual results in math are based solely on a person’s ability to work through a problem and not whether they are male or female. Understandably, the lead research physiologist, David Geary, is concerned with how the stereotype is affecting women, [There are a] “disproportionate number of men in top levels of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. We need more women to succeed in these fields for our economy and for our future.” Hopefully, this study will help spread the wrongness of this stereotype and women will gain momentum in these fields. Related posts: Modesty Important for Women, But Not for Men [Study] Evidence Says Women Are Better Multitaskers Than Men [Study] Social Connections in the Workplace Do Not Benefit Women [Study]

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Stereotype Busted! Women Are Not Worse At Math Than Men [Study]

Why manufacturers are reading this research right now: Even the smartest decision-makers are confused by ERP Even one piece of insight can deliver tremendous value, prestige and profits This is a free resource written by an ERP expert exclusively for manufacturers This brief will help you understand how the functions link together, help reduce the overwhelm and highlight where you can realize the most value. Request Free!

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2010 Essential Features of Manufacturing ERP Software

Alignment of marketing and sales goals and objectives is a key strategy for many organizations seeking revenue and customer growth amid economic and market challenges. This research examines the operational efficiencies used to maximize prospect engagement and profitability. Best-in-Class organizations are more likely to define shared processes, collaborate on content to generate results, and take responsibility for the performance of marketing within the business. Request Free!

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Sales and Marketing Alignment: The New Power Couple

Improving the quantity and quality of the leads generated and managed by the Marketing and Sales organizations isn’t a simple task in today’s multi-touch, multi-channel environment. This research reviews the best practices that optimize lead management practices throughout the entire lifecycle of the opportunity; from Marketing’s demand generation campaigns to Sales’ closing the business. In February of 2011, Aberdeen surveyed 414 marketing and sales executives around the globe to identify the key trends and strategic initiatives to deliver effective campaigns and improve lead management activities to improve sales effectiveness. The analysis in this report highlights the capabilities and technologies organizations deploy to improve demand generation, lead nurturing, and avoid lead pipeline leakage. Request Free!

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Optimizing Marketing-to-Sales Lifecycle: Grow Revenue from Marketing Campaigns

As global organizations push their marketing practices ahead in today’s frenetic digital multilingual environment, they are navigating unchartered territory. But it will not be long before first generation tools for digital marketing in multiple languages evolves into second generation content globalization systems that are integrated and refined. This research report for brand and marketing managers, business executives, content strategists, and language professionals will help to gain new insight into how to improve their global content operations, determine which investments generate new competitive advantage, and bring their practices in line with larger business goals. Request Free!

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Multilingual Marketing Content: Growing International Business with Global Content Value Chains