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Some Bees Are Addicted to Caffeine (albanydailystar.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the caffeine-buzz dept.

mdsolar shares a new article about plants which produce caffeine to attract bees and encourage repeat visits to help with their pollination. "Scientists at the University of Sussex said they thought the plants produce the caffeine in their nectar to fool bees into thinking it contains more sugar than it actually does," reports the Albany Daily Star. In addition, bees communicate by "dancing" for their colleagues, and the caffeinated bees danced faster, inadvertently directing the other bees to revisit those flowers, even after nectar had run dry. "If they just had one, three-hour exposure to the caffeinated nectar on the first day," one researcher said, "they would come back for many more days, and more often within each day."

11 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. Albany Daily Star is garbage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They literally repost months-old stories as if they're brand new. This one was posted on CNET in October.

    1. Re:Albany Daily Star is garbage by masterpenguin · · Score: 2

      They literally repost months-old stories as if they're brand new. This one was posted on CNET in October.

      Not only is it garbage, their own "about" page talks about a different news organization that doesn't appear to exist. I am pretty sure this is just a Facebook clickbait news generator. http://www.albanydailystar.com...

  2. I know how they feel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    You and bee both. Mee both. Be mothe! Me both!!

  3. Tea in their honey by jfdavis668 · · Score: 2

    So bees add tea to their honey?

  4. Re:foop by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Contrrol the alcohol level... "

    Here in Arizona the Africanized bees have taken over completely from the former European bees, so the plants are learning to make their nectar taste like Colt 45.

  5. Cool :D by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Makes sense. Plants didn't evolve to produce caffeine without there being a selection pressure towards it. This is presumably how that pressure originated, before humans got involved.

    1. Re:Cool :D by Cardcaptor_RLH85 · · Score: 2

      Caffeine is an insecticide, it kills insects that eat too much of the plants leaves (it's bitter too). These bees seem to have built up a tolerance large enough to get the positive effects without dying. Don't forget that a few ounces (few dozen grams) of pure caffeine is enough to kill almost any human.

  6. That explains something by blindseer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No wonder bees are so easily attracted to my Mountain Dew.

    --
    I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
    1. Re:That explains something by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Funny

      Of course, they are only in it for the buzz.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  7. Parallels by suupaabaka · · Score: 2

    So bee worker bees are addicted to caffeine in just the same way as human worker bees?

    I'm not surprised. Sometimes I think caffeine is the only thing that lets me survive the office with my dignity and sanity intact.

  8. Re: foop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Racist joke gets a +3 funny? That's fucked up..