Are you smarter than a bee when it comes to solving basic arithmetic?
According to a new study, scientists say bees can do basic mathematical operations as they can be taught to recognize colors as “symbolic representations for addition and subtraction.”
In the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, researchers created an experiment using mazes to test whether bees could perform simple arithmetic operations like addition and subtraction.
The bees were trained for 4 to 7 hours, LiveScience reports, and then the challenge was repeated to see if the bees had retained any of the information.
The insects came up with the correct answers some 63 to 72 percent of the time, which scientists say is better than random chance.
“We show that honeybees, with a miniature brain, can learn to use blue and yellow as symbolic representations for addition or subtraction,” the study’s abstract reads. “In a free-flying environment, individual bees used this information to solve unfamiliar problems involving adding or subtracting one element from a group of elements.”
The discovery helps scientists understand the relationship between brain size and brain power.
“Even the miniature brain of a honeybee can grasp basic mathematical operations,” the study notes.
“Our findings suggest that advanced numerical cognition may be more accessible to nonhuman animals than previously suspected,” said Adrian Dryer of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, a co-author of the study.
How is this possible?
Dryer says the bees doing basic math be the result of evolution and having gained the ability to understand the information around them as they go from flower to flower.
He adds it’s also possible they have gained “neuroplasticity,” or new connections among the neurons in their brains.
According to LiveScience, insects have less than 1 million neurons, while the average human has approximately 86 billion neurons.
What’s the next step in the process?
Researchers say they will see if bees can perform additional, more complex equations.
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