Bees Can Be Trained to Recognize Human Faces

Friday, January 29, 2010 - 16:07 in Mathematics & Economics

Tiny bee brains could serve as models for facial recognition systems Bees need not recognize human faces when going about their pollination business. Yet scientists have now found that they can train bees to recognize the arrangement of human facial features, by rewarding the classy striped insects with sugar. That could inspire new facial recognition systems, given that bees manage this feat with brains the size of a microdot. The bee ability to distinguish between human faces was first noticed by Adrian Dyer, a vision scientist from Monash University in Australia. But biologist Martin Giurfa from the Université de Toulouse in France wanted to better understand how bees managed to learn facial features, and so he teamed up with Dyer to carry out a more systematic test. Related ArticlesFBI Facial Recognition Software To Automatically Check Driver's License Applicants Against Criminal DatabaseToyota Planning Full-Color Night Vision for Drivers Based on Insect EyesFace-Recognition Software Shields...

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