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The short story “Trailhead” by Edward O. Wilson is presented.

An excerpt from the book "The Creation," by E. O. Wilson is presented.

The article addresses the intersection of botany and aesthetics as an expression of human nature. It presents a definition of the fundamental idea of what is going on in the human mind when people embrace nature and its extension in horticulture. It cites good examples of the hereditary epigenetic rules of mental development that controls human nature. It discusses the consequences of other epigenetic rules.

The Neotropical ant Prionopelta amabilis, a cryptobiotic species in the phylogenetically primitive tribe Amblyoponini, lives in subterranean habitats, where it preys preferentially on campodeid diplurans and other small arthropods. Here we report that the species employs chemical recruitment and orientation trails during foraging and nest emigrations. The trail pheromone originates in a hitherto unknown basitarsal gland located in the basitarsus of the hindlegs. Trails are laid by a special foot dragging behavior. During the recruitment process the chemical trail signal is complemented by body shaking on the part of the recruiting ant. Foragers frequently wipe the basitarsal gland opening in the hindlegs with the grooming apparatus of the front legs. This latter structure is equipped with unusual glands evidently specialized for this purpose.

The remaining problems of biology, which include the nature of the molecular regulation of development, the relation between micro- and macroevolution, the mind/body association, and the linkage between genetic and cultural evolution, all appear to be most readily soluble by attention to the epigenesis of individual organisms. Societies offer special advantages in the analysis of epigenesis. The constituent parts, consisting of the whole member organisms, can be observed more directly than cells and organelles. In the case of social insects, the components can be separated and reassembled as "pseudomutant" colonies, which can then be compared with the normal forms of the very same colonies studied on alternate days. Using this technique, for example, I have analyzed the optimization of some aspects of the division of labor in leaf-cutting ants and identified net energetic yield as the apparent aspect of foraging that has been maximized in the division of labor. A comparable approach can be applied in the study of human genetic and cultural evolution. The choices made by individuals during socialization, which in many categories of cognition and behavior display innate bias, can be translated with appropriate techniques into statistical descriptions of cultural diversity. Natural selection acting on behavior within particular cultures alters the frequencies of the genes underlying the developmental processes of cognition and behavior. The result is postulated to be a "co-evolutionary circuit" that links genetic and cultural evolution in an inseverable manner.

Major workers of Oecophylla longinoda mark their territories with persistent pheromones that are distinguishable to the ants at the colony level. Workers detecting the deposits of an alien colony respond with increased amounts of aversive and aggressive behavior, and they later recruit nestmates to the area at a higher rate. Colonies entering a field impregnated with their own scent also gain an initial advantage in warfare with other colonies. The pheromones are located at least in part in drops of rectal sac fluid deposited by workers over the territorial surface.

A reprint of the article "The Barometer of Life," by S. N. Stuart, E. O. Wilson, J. A. McNeely and colleagues, which appeared in the April 2010 issue of "Science Magazine" is presented. It offers information on the International Year of Biodiversity which was inaugurated by the United Nations in Berlin, Germany on January 11, 2010. It cites the partnership between the initiative called the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) and the "Barometer of Life" project.