The work of Thomas Dyer Seeley, professor of biology at Cornell University, focuses on understanding the evolutionary transition from organism to group as "...the highest level of functionally organized entity."

There are four transitional stages in evolution--replicator to prokaryote; prokaryote to eukaryote; eukaryote to multicellular organism; and multicellular organism to group. In order to understand what makes the latter transition so successful--what creates the strong cooperation between members of a group and how each member of that group interacts to create such a highly successful community--Seeley and his students investigate the behavior and habits of honey bee colonies. Seeley chose honey bee colonies for their incredible ability to adapt and survive in their environment, the highly cooperative interaction of each colony member, and the ease with which the colony and individuals within the colony can be observed.

One of the two questions Seely's research addresses is why there...