Day #401 Oh Oh Oh! See Spot Run! Bees Are Smart!

You know, if we humans were judged on our ability to breathe underwater (without the benefit of SCUBA), we’d all fail.

It seems that scientists have just recently discovered that bees know how to fly efficiently and how to find the best possible routes to and from nectar sources, despite the fact that their little bee brains are “the size of a grass seed.”

I’m quoting an article posted last month on TG Daily by David Gomez. Here’s the link in case you’re interested in reading the whole thing:

http://www.tgdaily.com/general-sciences-features/52224-bee-brains-calculate-better-than-expensive-computers?mid=52

The title should have warned me what was to come:

“Bee brains calculate better than expensive computers”

Do tell.

“Bees could now be in the running for the title of most efficient being known to man. A new study has found that our honey producing friends are better at mathematical functions than today’s most powerful computers.”

Gomez, it appears, was expounding on an article in Natural News. I went to the source and found this ending paragraph:

“Previous studies have found that bees have amazing memory capacities for their size. Their incredible olfactory senses are also amazingly powerful at discerning and remember different smells and aromas.”
            -- http://www.naturalnews.com/030192_bees_computers.html

The article could have used a good editor.  Besides having questionable grammar in that second sentence, aren’t smells and aromas pretty much the same thing?

Still, it is nice to know officially that bees can navigate and smell. Just how did those scientists think bees have been finding flowers for millions of years?

The study, according to Natural News, says “bees are able to quickly calculate the shortest flying routes among their network of flowers and plants in order to minimize flying time, a feat that even the speediest computers take days to solve.”

The reason for the study? So computers will be able to figure out how to route traveling salesmen in the most efficient ways. Of course, what they don’t take into account is that bees can travel in relatively straight lines, dodging around trees and soaring over buildings. Traveling salesmen will never be able to travel like that.

Gomez condescends to admit that:
     "The intelligence paradigm for small creatures has changed. Studies have found that bees … have amazingly powerful brains for their diminutive size. Animals that we once thought to be simple are turning out to be far more complex than anyone could have imagined."

Excuse me, Mr. Gomez? Bees have been around for more than 140 million years. They are the only insect that produces food that is good for humans. They produce it whether or not humans are around to steal the honey from them. They produce honey still, despite the fact that we as a race are polluting their world. Who’s this “we” who once thought bees to be simple?

Bees – simple? Ha! They should have read my blog for the past 400 days.

BEEattitude for Day # 401:

       Blessed are those who study (and appreciate) the wonder around us, for they shall live in awe of Mother.

p.s. from Fran -- I truly am glad that people are discovering the wonder of honey bees. Just had to vent a bit at the tone.

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