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Caffeine Improves Memory In Bees

Posted by Soulskill on from the able-to-find-their-bee-dentures-reliably dept.

sciencehabit writes "After a long day buzzing between flowers, even the most industrious worker bee could use a little help remembering which ones she wants to return to the next day. Some plants have a trick to ensure they end up at the top of the list: caffeinated nectar. A team of researchers bombarded honey bees with floral smells paired with sugary rewards, some of which contained the same levels of caffeine found in the nectar of coffee and citrus flowers. Three times as many bees remembered the odors associated with caffeine after 24 hours, when compared with the scents associated with sugar alone (abstract). When the researchers applied the stimulant directly to honey bee brains, it had a positive effect on the neurons associated with the formation of long term memories. Now, they want to see if bees go out of their way to feed on caffeinated nectar, perhaps even ignoring predators to do so—behavior that, if observed, could shed light on the neurological processes behind addiction."

6 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. Worker Bees by clam666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    But does this increase bee's productivity? Can we improve that productivity with 6-sigma? Let's have discussion during the break-out.

    --
    I'm a satanic clam.
    1. Re:Worker Bees by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

      But does this increase bee's productivity? Can we improve that productivity with 6-sigma? Let's have discussion during the break-out.

      Listen kid, unless you want to give all your future status updates entirely by getting up on the conference room table and waggling your ass frantically, you'll stop that analogy right now...

  2. Ah, but why, doctor? by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Half-baked hypothesis time.

    Caffeine is actually toxic to many arthropods, and may actually be a defence mechanism for plants. I propose that by being immune to it, bees could potentially make their honey less attractive to other insects; similarly, by putting it in their nectar, plants are defended against unwanted non-pollinators. The plant's mechanism would have evolved first, then grown exaggerated when bees made those variants more successful.

    --
    Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
  3. Re:and people by bored_engineer · · Score: 2

    Damn it, I'm overanalyzing this, aren't I?

    Too much coffee?

    I don't think it's age. I've not been able to remember where I set my mug since I started drinking coffee. I've been losing my glasses since before I drank coffee. They're just details that don't seem important when they happen.

  4. That's how I like my coffee by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 2

    Covered in bees!

  5. JAVA-H, the new online journal with all that buzz! by girlinatrainingbra · · Score: 2

    re: Alright! Time to start the Journal of Validated Armchair Hypotheses.
    :>)
    JAVA-H, the new online journal with all that buzz!
    .
    Alright, stick an extra "A" in that journal title and I'll be itchin' to get published in JAVA-H:
    - American? - too geographically limited? - J of American Validated Armchair Hypotheses
    - Anthropomorphic? - relating all research to human endeavors? birds do it, bees do it, even educated humans do it...
    - Axiomatically? - ooh, this one sounds even more scientific and even a bit mathematically, logically, philosophically tastier... I might stop here at this one... Journal of Axiomatically Validated Armchair Hypotheses.