Scientists have been studying the wild marmots around the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado since 1962. All that observing has led to an awful lot of data, which is good news when you’re a scientist who wants to investigate a controversial dimension of how natural selection works in the wild.

Conner Philson from UC Santa Barbara and Daniel Blumstein from UCLA are two such biologists. They write about their analysis of 42,369 unique social interactions – behaviors such as playing and grooming – between 1,294 individual marmots from 180 social groups, with group sizes ranging from two to 35 of these chunky, cat-sized rodents.

All that data and some elaborate statistics helped them confirm that natural selection acts not only on individuals’ traits but also on traits of groups as well. Six decades of tracking marmot relationships confirmed an idea first proposed by Charles Darwin.

Also in this week’s science news:

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Maggie Villiger

Senior Science + Technology Editor
A small group of wild yellow-bellied marmots near the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado. D.T. Blumstein

Wild marmots’ social networks reveal controversial evolutionary theory in action

Conner Philson, University of California, Santa Barbara; Daniel T. Blumstein, University of California, Los Angeles

Multilevel selection is a controversial concept originally proposed by Darwin. A new study found evidence for it in the wild in a group of marmots scientists have been observing for more than 60 years.
For companies like 23andMe, consumers are as much the product as the DNA test kits. Veronika Oliinyk/iStock via Getty Images Plus

23andMe is potentially selling more than just genetic data – the personal survey info it collected is just as much a privacy problem

Kayte Spector-Bagdady, University of Michigan

If you were a 23andMe customer, your genetic and personal information could be used in civil or criminal cases, targeted advertising, medical discrimination and so much more.
They had so much fun without me. Milko/E+ via Getty Images

Feeling FOMO for something that’s not even fun? It’s not the event you’re missing, it’s the bonding

Jacqueline Rifkin, Cornell University; Barbara Kahn, University of Pennsylvania; Cindy Chan, University of Toronto

Across a series of studies, researchers dug into what really triggered FOMO – and what worked to fend it off.

Chronic kidney disease often goes undiagnosed, but early detection can prevent severe outcomes

Eleanor Rivera, University of Illinois Chicago

Too often, patients with chronic kidney disease get diagnosed too late – if at all. Addressing risk factors early can stave off the disease’s worst effects.

Doctor shortages have hobbled health care for decades − and the trend could be worsening

Rochelle Walensky, Harvard Kennedy School; Nicole McCann, Boston University

Doctor shortages affect rural communities the most, leading to a rise in chronic health conditions.

Bird flu could be on the cusp of transmitting between humans − but there are ways to slow down viral evolution

Ron Barrett, Macalester College

At the viral chatter stage of an outbreak, pathogens are just starting to infect people in sporadic bursts. It’s a sign that a pandemic may be on the horizon.

As federal environmental priorities shift, sovereign Native American nations have their own plans

Alyssa Kreikemeier, University of Idaho

Tribal governance takes a long view based in Native peoples’ deep history with these lands.