Description

For many of us the buzzing of a bee elicits panic But the next time you hear that low droning sound look closer the bee has navigated to this particular spot for a reason using a fascinating set of tools She may be using her sensitive olfactory organs which provide a 3D scent map of her surroundings She may be following visual landmarks or instructions relayed by a hivemate She may even be tracking electrostatic traces left on flowers by other bees What a Bee Knows Exploring the Thoughts Memories and Personalities of Bees invites us to follow bees mysterious paths and experience their alien world

Although their brains are incredibly smalljust one million neurons compared to humans one hundred billionbees have remarkable abilities to navigate learn communicate and remember In What a Bee Knows entomologist Stephen Buchmann explores a bees way of seeing the world and introduces the scientists who make the journey possible We travel into the field and to the laboratories of noted bee biologists who have spent their careers digging into the questions most of us never thought to ask for example Do bees dream And if so why With each discovery Buchmanns insatiable curiosity and sense of wonder is infectious