MSGID: 1:317/3 64acdb0f   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Bees make decisions better and faster than we do, for the things that   
   matter to them    
      
     Date:   
         July 10, 2023   
     Source:   
         Macquarie University   
     Summary:   
         Research reveals how millions of years of evolution has engineered   
         honey bees to make fast decisions and reduce risk.   
      
      
         Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   Honey bees have to balance effort, risk and reward, making rapid and   
   accurate assessments of which flowers are mostly likely to offer food   
   for their hive.   
      
   Research published in the journal eLifetoday reveals how millions of   
   years of evolution has engineered honey bees to make fast decisions and   
   reduce risk.   
      
   The study enhances our understanding of insect brains, how our own brains   
   evolved, and how to design better robots.   
      
   The paper presents a model of decision-making in bees and outlines the   
   paths in their brains that enable fast decision-making. The study was   
   led by Professor Andrew Barron from Macquarie University in Sydney,   
   and Dr HaDi MaBouDi, Neville Dearden and Professor James Marshall from   
   the University of Sheffield.   
      
   "Decision-making is at the core of cognition," says Professor   
   Barron. "It's the result of an evaluation of possible outcomes, and   
   animal lives are full of decisions. A honey bee has a brain smaller than   
   a sesame seed. And yet she can make decisions faster and more accurately   
   than we can. A robot programmed to do a bee's job would need the back   
   up of a supercomputer.   
      
   "Today's autonomous robots largely work with the support of remote   
   computing," Professor Barron continues. "Drones are relatively brainless,   
   they have to be in wireless communication with a data centre. This   
   technology path will never allow a drone to truly explore Mars solo --   
   NASA's amazing rovers on Mars have travelled about 75 kilometres in years   
   of exploration."  Bees need to work quickly and efficiently, finding   
   nectar and returning it to the hive, while avoiding predators. They need   
   to make decisions. Which flower will have nectar? While they're flying,   
   they're only prone to aerial attack.   
      
   When they land to feed, they're vulnerable to spiders and other predators,   
   some of which use camouflage to look like flowers.   
      
   "We trained 20 bees to recognise five different coloured 'flower   
   disks'. Blue flowers always had sugar syrup," says Dr MaBouDi. "Green   
   flowers always had quinine [tonic water] with a bitter taste for   
   bees. Other colours sometimes had glucose."  "Then we introduced each   
   bee to a 'garden' where the 'flowers' just had distilled water. We filmed   
   each bee then watched more than 40 hours of video, tracking the path of   
   the bees and timing how long it took them to make a decision.   
      
   "If the bees were confident that a flower would have food, then they   
   quickly decided to land on it taking an average of 0.6 seconds)," says   
   Dr MaBouDi. "If they were confident that a flower would not have food,   
   they made a decision just as quickly."  If they were unsure, then they   
   took much more time -- on average 1.4 seconds - - and the time reflected   
   the probability that a flower had food.   
      
   The team then built a computer model from first principles aiming to   
   replicate the bees' decision-making process. They found the structure   
   of their computer model looked very similar to the physical layout of   
   a bee brain.   
      
   "Our study has demonstrated complex autonomous decision-making with   
   minimal neural circuitry," says Professor Marshall. "Now we know how   
   bees make such smart decisions, we are studying how they are so fast   
   at gathering and sampling information. We think bees are using their   
   flight movements to enhance their visual system to make them better at   
   detecting the best flowers."  AI researchers can learn much from insects   
   and other 'simple' animals. Millions of years of evolution has led to   
   incredibly efficient brains with very low power requirements. The future   
   of AI in industry will be inspired by biology, says Professor Marshall,   
   who co-founded Opteran, a company that reverse- engineers insect brain   
   algorithms to enable machines to move autonomously, like nature.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Plants_&_Animals   
                   # Agriculture_and_Food # Food_and_Agriculture #   
                   Insects_(including_Butterflies)   
             o Matter_&_Energy   
                   # Vehicles # Engineering # Aviation   
             o Computers_&_Math   
                   # Artificial_Intelligence # Computer_Modeling #   
                   Computer_Science   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Honeybee o Beekeeping o Honey o Bee o Africanized_bee   
             o Pollination_management o Endangered_species o   
             Characteristics_of_common_wasps_and_bees   
      
   ==========================================================================   
      
    Print   
      
    Email   
      
    Share   
   ==========================================================================   
   ****** 1 ****** ***** 2 ***** **** 3 ****   
   *** 4 *** ** 5 ** Breaking this hour   
   ==========================================================================   
       * 36-Million-Year_Geological_Cycle_Drives_...   
      
       * Six_Foods_to_Boost_Cardiovascular_Health   
       * Cystic_Fibrosis:_Lasting_Improvement *   
       Artificial_Cells_Demonstrate_That_'Life_...   
      
       * Advice_to_Limit_High-Fat_Dairy_Foods_Challenged   
       * First_Snapshots_of_Fermion_Pairs *   
       Why_No_Kangaroos_in_Bali;_No_Tigers_in_Australia   
       * New_Route_for_Treating_Cancer:_Chromosomes *   
       Giant_Stone_Artefacts_Found:_Prehistoric_Tools *   
       Astonishing_Secrets_of_Tunicate_Origins   
      
   Trending Topics this week   
   ==========================================================================   
   PLANTS_&_ANIMALS Endangered_Plants Botany Food EARTH_&_CLIMATE   
   Environmental_Policy Sustainability Hazardous_Waste FOSSILS_&_RUINS   
   Fossils Early_Mammals Early_Climate   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Strange & Offbeat   
   ==========================================================================   
   PLANTS_&_ANIMALS   
   Bees_Make_Decisions_Better_and_Faster_Than_We_Do,_for_the_Things_That_Matter_to   
   Them   
   These_Lollipops_Could_'Sweeten'_Diagnostic_Testing_for_Kids_and_Adults_Alike   
   Why_There_Are_No_Kangaroos_in_Bali_(and_No_Tigers_in_Australia)   
   EARTH_&_CLIMATE   
   Turning_Old_Maps_Into_3D_Digital_Models_of_Lost_Neighborhoods   
   Squash_Bugs_Are_Attracted_to_and_Eat_Each_Other's_Poop_to_Stock_Their   
   Microbiome How_Urea_May_Have_Been_the_Gateway_to_Life FOSSILS_&_RUINS   
   Giant_Stone_Artefacts_Found_on_Rare_Ice_Age_Site_in_Kent,_UK   
   Fossils_Reveal_How_Ancient_Birds_Molted_Their_Feathers_--_Which_Could_Help   
   Explain_Why_Ancestors_of_Modern_Birds_Survived_When_All_the_Other_Dinosaurs   
   Died Apex_Predator_of_the_Cambrian_Likely_Sought_Soft_Over_Crunchy_Prey   
   Story Source: Materials provided by Macquarie_University. Note: Content   
   may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Journal Reference:   
      1. HaDi MaBouDi, James AR Marshall, Neville Dearden, Andrew B   
      Barron. How   
         honey bees make fast and accurate decisions. eLife, 2023; 12 DOI:   
         10.7554/eLife.86176   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230710113824.htm   
      
   --- up 1 year, 19 weeks, 10 hours, 50 minutes   
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)   
   SEEN-BY: 15/0 106/201 114/705 123/120 153/7715 218/700 226/30 227/114   
   SEEN-BY: 229/110 112 113 307 317 400 426 428 470 664 700 291/111 292/854   
   SEEN-BY: 298/25 305/3 317/3 320/219 396/45 5075/35   
   PATH: 317/3 229/426