I just listened to an excellent short talk from Marlene Zuk, a professor at UC Riverside, on how insects can teach us something about ourselves. I was hoping to post a link of that talk here, but then realized that it was from AAAS (the science society) and required paid access to view. Nevertheless, she does have a new book called Sex on Six legs that you can check out on Amazon.

She discusses how many behaviors that we identify with as being distinctly human can also be found in the insect world.