The Mind of a Bee

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The bees were also capable of imagining how things will look or feel: for example, they could identify a sphere visually which previously they had only felt in the dark – and vice versa. And they could understand abstract concepts like “same” or “different”. They can be taught to solve complex problems, and their minds are incredibly powerful thinking machines. Currently, we can't even design a robot that behaves as efficiently as a bee. Bees kept in an unlit lab with no windows surprised researchers by scent-marking trails upon which they walked in the dark. “Life, uh, finds a way” - Ian Malcom

The Mind of a Bee - Lars Chittka: 9780691180472 - AbeBooks The Mind of a Bee - Lars Chittka: 9780691180472 - AbeBooks

The Mind of a Bee makes for fascinating reading. The book’s tight structure and numerous illustrations make it accessible . . . . [And I have] been thoroughly convinced by Chittka that bees are anything but little automatons."—Leon Vlieger, Inquisitive Biologist I enjoyed listening to this book, the way it was organized in short chapters all of which culminate towards one conclusion: the complexity of bees behavior and life. At some point the author concurred that it was impossible to build a bee robot while other scholars believed that there was a hidden force behind the dynamics of bees and their ability to adapt and evolve … In his latest book, The Mind of a Bee, published on 19 July, he argues that bees need our protection, not just because they are useful for crop pollination and biodiversity, but because they may be sentient beings – and humans have an ethical obligation to ensure their survival. In every chapter, Chittka weaves together older and recent investigations. Thus, he charts the history of all the important discoveries made around bee intelligence that are the foundation to present day research and new knowledge. He shares details too about the lives of scientists, such as Karl von Frisch, who made discoveries about honey bee colour learning and dance-language communication at a difficult time in Nazi Germany. Although the book is mostly about the work that Chittka and his team have carried out, it is clear that they have relied heavily on the findings of other scientists to help them place the pieces of the complex jigsaw of bee cognition in the correct places. Chittka’s scientific work has been carried out mainly with bumble bees living in laboratory settings, but he has also conducted research with honey bees in the field. Quite simply a magnificent book. No one knows the mind of a bee better than Lars Chittka. A satisfying blend of sound science and spellbinding storytelling. I was mesmerized from the start.”—George McGavin, zoologist, author, and broadcasterBees may visit upwards towards 1000 flowers and each flower has it's unique mechanics in respect to the location of nectar and the perils that may befall one who is not knowledgeable. Blue pollen is uncommon and I’ve not noticed this colour before in the apiary. The photo doesn’t do its brilliant periwinkle-blue justice. Without the addition of saliva, and being tamped down in the cell, pollen looks different in a bee’s corbiculae. Bee behaviour is undoubtedly fascinating and Chittka is the ideal author to explain the intricacies of how bees learn and make decisions."—John Badmin, British Journal of Entomology and Natural History Stel dat een blinde al tastend het onderscheid heeft leren maken tussen een kubus en een bol. Als hij opeens weer zou kunnen zien, zou hij die kubus en bol dan louter op het zicht herkennen? Dat vroeg de Ierse filosoof William Molyneux zich in 1688 af. Moeilijk te beantwoorden, dacht de Duitse, in Londen werkende zoöloog en etholoog Lars Chittka een paar jaar geleden, want hoe zet je zo’n experiment op? Met mensen leek het hem onmogelijk, maar misschien lukte het wel met bijen. In een pikdonkere omgeving liet hij een bij los op een paar bolletjes waar een druppel nectar in verborgen zat en op een paar kubussen zonder nectar. Eens het beestje het verschil tussen de twee kende, stak hij het licht aan en plaatste hij de bolletjes en kubussen in een afgesloten petrischaaltje zodat de bij alleen de vormen kon zien. Het diertje vloog meteen naar de bolletjes.

Bees are really highly intelligent’: the insect IQ tests ‘Bees are really highly intelligent’: the insect IQ tests

Most of us are aware of the hive mind―the power of bees as an amazing collective. But do we know how uniquely intelligent bees are as individuals? In The Mind of a Bee , Lars Chittka draws from decades of research, including his own pioneering work, to argue that bees have remarkable cognitive abilities. He shows that they are profoundly smart, have distinct personalities, can recognize flowers and human faces, exhibit basic emotions, count, use simple tools, solve problems, and learn by observing others. They may even possess consciousness. Bees need to sleep and will rest several hours each day during the eternal daylight of polar summer. Lars Chittka’s The Mind of a Bee is a mind-blowing presentation of scientific evidence and insight showing beyond ... Lars Chittka’s The Mind of a Bee is a mind-blowing presentation of scientific evidence and insight showing beyond any reasonable doubt that bees have awareness, memories, basic emotions, intelligence, and personalities―and that what we are doing to them and their world has not just practical but moral implications.”―Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words and Becoming WildChittka dispels the myth that worker honey bees are cold blooded and explains why they like drinking warm nectar and how they can learn to associate the colour of flowers with nectar temperature and can predict nectar temperatures based on past experiences. In the counting experiment, the bees were trained to fly past three identical landmarks to a food source. “After they had reliably flown there, we either increased the number of landmarks over the same distance or decreased it.” When landmarks were spaced closer together, the bees tended to land earlier than before and vice versa when the landmarks were placed further apart. “So they were using the number of landmarks to say: ah ha, I’ve flown far enough, this is a good place to land.” Intensely detailed, meticulously researched, and always illuminating, The Mind of a Bee is as enjoyable as it is intellectually stimulating. This book takes a fascinating deep dive into bees’ lives and minds, raising critical new questions for us as a species.”—Helen Jukes, author of A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings It's great! Most of the book is great stuff that I was expecting: experiments and findings about bees. What I did not expect is the biographical bits about historical bee researchers. These are very short, so absolutely don't distract from the bee content. But they are also amazing! Never a boring figure. Everybody was a freed slave, fighting the nazis, ending up in an insane asylum, or something else equally gripping.

The Mind of a Bee Tickets, Wed 29 Jun 2022 at 18:00 - Eventbrite The Mind of a Bee Tickets, Wed 29 Jun 2022 at 18:00 - Eventbrite

But when Chittka deliberately trained a “demonstrator bee” to carry out a task in a sub-optimal way, the “observer bee” would not simply ape the demonstrator and copy the action she had seen, but would spontaneously improve her technique to solve the task more efficiently “without any kind of trial and error”. This book is perhaps a must-read for those interested in autonomous AI. The central question is: "how do we probe the mind of a bee to figure out what's going on?" Does knowing the code of an AI exempt us from this kind of study? He began to realise some individual bees were more curious and confident than others. “You also find the odd ‘genius bee’ that does something better than all the other individuals of a colony, or indeed all the other bees we’ve tested..” You find the odd ‘genius bee’ that does something better than all the other individuals of a colony. Lars ChittkaA wonderful journey into the fascinating world of bee intelligence and consciousness."— Conservation Biology Bees don’t have eardrums, so they don’t hear like humans, but they do hear. A new human that has never gone to a heavy metal concert hears 20-20,000 Hz. Bees feel air movements with their antenna, sensing sound waves ranging from 20-500 Hz, and can feel hive vibrations with their feet. Like Rhianna said, “let the bass from the speakers run through ya sneakers.” (Or was that Bee-yoncé?) Bees can taste with their mouthparts, antenna, and with their feet. They can’t be fooled by artificial sweeteners like saccharine. They don’t like bitter or sour substances with the exception of some neonicontinoids used as pesticides. The time that insects were seen as little machines, incapable of complex thought, emotions, and learning, is far behind us. We can wish for no better guide than Lars Chittka for an accessible introduction to the wonders of bee intelligence.”—Frans de Waal, author of Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? Lars Chittka’s The Mind of a Bee is a mind-blowing presentation of scientific evidence and insight showing beyond any reasonable doubt that bees have awareness, memories, basic emotions, intelligence, and personalities—and that what we are doing to them and their world has not just practical but moral implications.”—Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words and Becoming Wild

The Mind of a Bee by Lars Chittka | Waterstones The Mind of a Bee by Lars Chittka | Waterstones

The knowledge on offer here is as entertaining as it is edifying. Readers won’t look at bees the same way again."— Publishers Weekly Dr Jonathan Birch is leading a project on animal sentience at the London School of Economics: “My own view is it’s more likely than not that bees are sentient.” More evidence is needed, he said, but in the past, academics have not bothered to even ask these questions about insects. “And now they are starting to.” Male butterflies have light receptors on their genitalia to help them copulate, which no doubt explains why butterflies joke about “seeing stars” after a particularly successful session.

Third - friendly reminder that governments that ban books, limit their scientists, and discriminate for religion, gender, race, or ideology are not good governments. I was talking about Nazis, who did you think I was discussing? I strongly recommend you read [Chittka’s] book and if you will excuse the pun ‘make your own mind up’. Science and nature writing at its finest and an essential read."—Roy Stewart, British Naturalists' Association