A swarm of honeybees can provide valuable lessons about how a group of many individuals can work together to accomplish a task, even with no one in charge. Roboticists are taking notes.
Honeybees are good at maths, but it was thought they could only count to four. That is, unless you present them with a task in which they are punished with a bitter-tasting drink for getting it wrong.
It’s unlikely that all species of bees will go extinct anytime soon – but current losses could still have a terrible impact on food supplies and ecosystems.
Urban pollutants are a health concern in growing cities. Scientists are turning to honey bees to help monitor contaminants in soil, water, air and plants.
Bee brains contain less than one million neurons. Despite this, new research shows the honeybee can use symbols to perform basic maths, including addition and subtraction.
Bees need flowers to live, and we need bees to pollinate our crops. Understanding bee vision can help us better support our buzzy friends and the critical pollination services they provide.
Bees can pick up unique characteristics in paintings by zipping quickly back and forth in front of them to detect abrupt changes in the brightness of an image.