I argue that one of the strong features in disciplines like molecular biology and cosmology is the extent ot which they use a powerful theoretical framework to generate and test quantitative predictions. Studies of biological evolution can exploit a similar advantage by integrating our current understanding of physiological and sociobiological processes to generate models of much greater sophistication than has commonly been the practice hitherto. I illustrate this with a number of examples drawn from the evolutionary biology of human and nonhuman primates.