Natural reward theory could provide new foundation for biology

(Pensoft Publishers) Major trends of evolution, including the increase of complexity, command over resources, and innovativeness, have remained difficult to reconcile with Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. A new paper by Owen Gilbert (University of Texas), and published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal Rethinking Ecology, suggests that there is an alternative non-random force of evolution: natural reward, which acts synergistically with natural selection and leads to th...