Me to We: Searching for the Genetic Roots of Sociality

True societies are very rare in biology, but have evolved repeatedly in a group of insects that include the ants, bees, and wasps, with the honey bee widely considered a paragon of sociality. In this lecture, I will use the honey bee and related bee species to demonstrate how the new science of genomics enables the study of social life in molecular terms, with examples of mechanisms relating selfish behavior that have evolved to promote cooperation, and connections between socially responsive genomes and human health.