In nature, organisms often support each other in order to gain an advantage. However, this kind of cooperation contradicts the theory of evolution proposed by Charles Darwin: Why would organisms invest valuable resources to help others? A new study led by Prof. Dr. Christian Kost from the Department of Ecology at the Osnabrueck University now solved this puzzle. The results of the study were published in the scientific journal Current Biology (link: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.100). The research project was performed in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena.