New study reveals: This is what honeybees notice just like humans

June 22, 2022   

Scientists from many research institutes around the world are studying everything related to the honey bee, due to the disappearance of a third of the world's bee colonies, for an unknown reason. These are the changes to the intercity public transportation routes in Jerusalem • All the details Since the bee is responsible for pollinating 80% from agricultural and wild plants, and without it there would be no plant food, the honey bee has become a sought-after research object, with the aim of saving the world. Among the various studies, a new study was conducted by a team of researchers from Australia and France, led by researcher Dr. Scarlett Howard from the Center for Integrative Ecology at Dean University in Australia, which discovered that honeybees are able to visually acquire the ability to distinguish between even and odd numbers, and even to extrapolate (estimating approximately unknown data based on known data) just like humans. Studies conducted around the world show that humans are faster and more accurate when classifying numbers as even versus odd. For example, it was found that children usually associate the word "even" with "right" and "odd" with "left." These studies indicate that humans may have learned or innate biases regarding even and odd numbers. In the study conducted at the University of Australia, the researchers chose to study the honeybee, known for its cognitive abilities that have fascinated the research world for years. As part of the experiment, the researchers divided the The honeybees were divided into two groups. The first group was trained to associate even numbers with a sugar-water solution (to encourage correct choices), and odd numbers with a bitter-tasting quinine solution (to reward incorrect choices). The bees in the second group were trained to associate odd numbers with a sugar-water solution and even numbers with a quinine solution. The training was carried out using cards with between one and ten geometric shapes printed on them. The experiment continued until the honeybees reached an accuracy of 80% in choosing the correct answer. One of the interesting findings that emerged from the experiment was that the learning rate was different between the two groups, with the bees that were trained to associate odd numbers with sugar water learning faster than their counterparts in the second group. This finding suggests that the honeybees' learning bias for odd numbers is actually the opposite of that known among humans, who classify even numbers more quickly. Later in the experiment, the honeybees were exposed to new numbers. Lead researcher Dr. Scarlett Howard said: "Surprisingly, the honeybees classified the new numbers as even and odd with an accuracy of about 70%. The findings showed that the tiny brains of the honeybees were able to grasp the concepts of even and odd. For comparison; the human brain has about 86 billion neurons, while the honeybee brain consists of only about 960 thousand neurons, and both were found to be able to classify numbers by item." Dr. Howard also noted that the results of the study constitute a significant step in learning about how mathematics and abstract thought emerged in humans throughout history, as a basis for new research in the field. Opie Reich, CEO of the Honey Council: "The senses and abilities of the honey bee continue to amaze researchers around the world. This study shows the high cognitive ability of bees." Reich added: "It is of utmost importance to expand research in Israel and around the world in the field of honey bees that pollinate about 80% of agricultural crops. I hope that the results of the studies will lead to finding ways to deal with the worrying phenomenon of their disappearance, which is caused, among other things, by real threats from the climate crisis, global warming and accelerated urbanization.".