Bees have been found to solve complex mathematical problems involving distance calculation. So complex, they can take days for computers to complete. In the traveling salesman problem, a salesman that visits multiple places within a day must figure out the most efficient route to spend as much time as possible selling and as little time as possible traveling. Similarly, bees have been found to calculate highly efficient routes for visiting hundreds of flowers in memorized locations within a given trip.
bees
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Among tropical sweat bees, queen bees who rule over a hive have been found to have larger brain areas utilized for learning and memory than do their direct genetic descendants that are workers or queens that lead solitary lives.
[Proceedings of the Royal Society B] via [NewScientist], [image by Adam Smith]
Bees who find food will do a “waggle dance” to share their discovery with their nearby peers, but if any senses a dangerous threat, it will intervene by vibrating to call off the dance.
[Current Biology] via [Science Daily]
Bees have been shown to be able to discriminate between different images of human-like faces.
[Journal of Experimental Biology] via [Science Daily], [photo]


