How Honey Bees Point Their Way To Food
A honey bee on a flower Bob Peterson, via Flickr Honey bees can give each other directions using polarized light as a landmark to find potential food. Light becomes polarized as it reaches us through the atmosphere, but the polarization is typically not seen by the naked human eye. In a new study from the University of Queensland's Queensland Brain Institute, researchers have found that the very useful (and adorable) waggle dance, which the honey bees perform to inform others about where to find food, is actually based on the patterns of polarized light. Researchers have previously explored how bees' eyes see the polarized light and use it to navigate, which has also been studied in ants. With this study, scientists at the University of Queensland have found that the so-called waggle dance bees perform translates that polarized light map of...