Kin Enough

2030’s Seniors : Kin and Step-Kin

Demographic computer microsimulation is applied to produce projections of numbers and distributions of close kin for the U.S. elderly of 2030. This paper reports results for the non-black population, with special emphasis on the numbers and possible roles of step-kin. The projections indicate that the elderly of 2030 are likely to be moderately deprived in terms of numbers of close living biolo...

Kin Selection

Kin selection

How can individuals calculate relatedness? They generally don’t need to, any more than a bird needs to calculate aerodynamic forces to fly. If, under certain conditions, performing a behavior satisfies Hamilton’s rule, then the action is favored. The triggering conditions may include cues to relatedness, which are usually based on social experience. A bee, for example, learns the smell of her b...

Enough is enough.

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the first Surgeon General report on smoking and health (U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1964) was the release of the 2014 Surgeon General report The Health Consequences of Smoking-50 Years of Progress (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2014). During a press conference announcing the report in January 2014, Acting Surgeon Gene...

When Is Enough, Enough?

As academic researchers we have to walk a delicate line when it comes to publishing papers on similar topics, possibly using the same data sets. On one hand, we want to get as many articles published as possible, preferably in high quality journals. We want to leverage the data sets that we have spent considerable effort collecting. On the other hand, we need to be careful not to overuse these ...