Growth-rate data from co-cultures of drug-sensitive and drug-resistant cancer cells are quantitatively described using evolutionary game theory, revealing that drug treatment alters the type of game played by the cancer cells from ‘Leader’ to ‘Deadlock’.

Gregory Kimmel et al. model the population dynamics of public goods games in which interactions occur within local neighborhoods but density dependence is global. They find that neighborhood size drives changes between different evolutionary dynamics and apply their model to dynamics observed in cell populations.

Reversible phenotypic plasticity is expected to be favoured by long lifespan, as this increases the environmental variation individuals experience. Here, the authors develop a model showing how phenotypic plasticity can drive selection on lifespan, leading to coevolution of these traits.

Fujisawa, Ichinose, and Dobata used simulated robot swarms to study the evolution of pheromone-guided foraging and traffic rules. Interestingly, they showed that in most cases traffic rules evolved before the foraging traits suggesting an important role for regulatory mechanisms in guiding core evolutionary adaptations.