What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Liars of Nature and the Nature of Liars’

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Updated 30 April 2023
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Liars of Nature and the Nature of Liars’

Author: Lixing Sun 

“The Liars of Nature and the Nature of Liars” explores the evolution of cheating in the natural world, revealing how dishonesty has given rise to wondrous diversity.

Blending cutting-edge science with a wealth of illuminating examples—from microscopic organisms to highly intelligent birds and mammals—Lixing Sun shows how cheating in nature relies on two basic rules.

One is lying, by which cheaters exploit honest messages in communication signals and use them to serve their own interests.

The other is deceiving, by which cheaters exploit the biases and loopholes in the sensory systems of other creatures. 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Doctors by Nature’ by Jaap De Roode

Updated 15 January 2026
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Doctors by Nature’ by Jaap De Roode

Ages before the dawn of modern medicine, wild animals were harnessing the power of nature’s pharmacy to heal themselves. “Doctors by Nature” reveals what researchers are now learning about the medical wonders of the animal world. 

Drawing on illuminating interviews with leading scientists from around the globe as well as Jaap de Roode’s own pioneering research on monarch butterflies, he demonstrates how animals of all kinds—from ants to apes, from bees to bears, and from cats to caterpillars—use various forms of medicine to treat their own ailments and those of their relatives.