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Scientists Glue Sensors To 5,000 Bees In a Bid To Better Understand Them
An anonymous reader writes "Scientists at the University of Tasmania working with CSIRO have decided to use the latest sensor technology to help them better understand the behavior of thousands of bees. An RFID sensor has been attached with glue to the back of around 5,000 honey bees in Hobart, Tasmania. In order for that to work, shaving the area of the bee where the sensor would sit was necessary in some cases. Thankfully the bee was asleep during the process, and the sensor is small and light enough that they likely won't notice it is there. With the sensors attached, checkpoints can be setup around the area where the bees travel and pollinate in order to create a three-dimensional map of their movements."
Unfortunately for the researchers one of the bees is named Fox Mulder and is about to reveal the entire operation to the colony.
So I've got a picture in my head of aliens doing this to us, and having this very same conversation about how we probably wouldn't notice. "Oh, hey bob... glad you're back! Gosh darn it, why'd you cut off your pony tail! and what's that thing sticking off the back of your head?"
...think of the bees?
Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
It turns out, bees sting people.
Luckily the scientists now have enough data points to be pretty sure that is true.
Incidentally, they also prefer Aqua Velva as an aftershave, an unexpected finding as the scientists were sure they would prefer Burt's Bees.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
in order to create a three-dimensional map of their movements
More energy efficient (and anonymous) way for Google to build maps for street view?
In other news, colony collapse disorder... caused by glue.
A solemn salute to those postgrads that had to stay overnight to glue those 5000 sensors to those bees. I feel your pain, my fellow comrades.
I believe in free speech, I would rather glue 5000 bees to a censor.
-- Make America hate again!
How doth we study the little busy bee
Wearing sensors each shining hour,
To gather honey all the day
From every shining flower?
Burma Shave
[Apologies to Isaac Watts.]
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
"You mean your Chevy?"
"...yes."
Also, beekeepers like their women the way they like their coffee. Covered in bees.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
... how many sensors will I have to glue to women in order to better understand them?
No left turn unstoned.
What is it you do again son?
Well, last night I had to work late; I was shaving bees ...
Oy, my son shaving bees! What your father would say!
..to glue tags onto 5000 bees? Workers only live for a few weeks, so unless they have a LOT of bee-gluers hard at work won't their tagged bees start dying before they finish?
A nice tall glass of NOPE.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Scientists Glue Sensors To 5,000 Bees In a Bid To Better Understand Them
See, this is why we need better documentation. I'm not sure why the scientists thought the bees would help (perhaps division of labor/hive mind or something?) but really, if the OEMs had made proper documentation for the sensors easily available, none of this would have been necessary.
Somewhere there's at least one person with "Bee Shaver" on their CV.
"We have a dire emergency, and we hear you're the best. There's a rare species of wasp invading the U.S. and we need to tag'em before we can bag'em."
"Just tell me one thing: Where are the tweezers?"
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