How much do worms love their babies?

As it turns out, the nematode C. elegans can go to great lengths to ensure that their offspring succeed! My colleagues at L'École Normale Supériure in Paris used experimental evolution to see how worms cope with either random or predictably varying environments. The worm moms were able to evolve a strategy to provision their offspring with extra glycogen (a compound used to make cellular energy), but only when they expect that the future will require extra energy for their offspring.