The Problem With Superchickens

Scientists recently discovered a fascinating paradox: when they bred together superproductive, egg-laying hens, they found the chickens produced fewer eggs. We examine what went wrong with these so-called superchickens, and we look at human examples of this phenomenon—a high school Model UN team and a retail giant.
For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard.
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David Sloan Wilson’s theories on competition and cooperation go far beyond superchickens. Take a look at an article (evonomics.com/the-making-of-rethinking-the-the…) he wrote about rethinking economics on Evonomics.com (evonomics.com?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=podcasts::src=…), a website started by one of his former students. And for more on his work, visit davidsloanwilson.world?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=podca….
Plus, retail has been through a lot over the last 50 years. To learn more about that world from the inside, check out his book, Remarkable Retail: How to Win and Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption (amazon.com/Remarkable-Retail-Keep-Customers-Di…), and his podcast, the Remarkable Retail Podcast (stevenpdennis.com/podcast?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=po…). And read a Bloomberg article (bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-07-11/at-sear…) that goes into detail about what happened at Sears.
Also explore:
Darwin transformed the world with his evolutionary theories. He also got a lot wrong. To learn how modern science is building on his work, see our article (nationalgeographic.com/science/article/darwin-…) on the subject.
For subscribers:
Evolution hasn’t stopped, but it is changing. Discover how humans are using technology to shape their own evolution in our article (nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/evolut…).

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