• HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Monday, January 25, 2021
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Health

Good food puts bees in good mood

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
September 30, 2016
in Health
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Biologists at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have discovered that after bumblebees drink a small droplet of really sweet sugar water, they behave like they are in a positive emotion-like state.

Photo of a bee drinking a droplet of sugar water. Credit: Clint J Perry
Photo of a bee drinking a droplet of sugar water.
Credit: Clint J Perry

We all know what it’s like to taste our favourite food and instantly feel good about the world but the same phenomenon may happen in bumblebees.

Biologists at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have discovered that after bumblebees drink a small droplet of really sweet sugar water, they behave like they are in a positive emotion-like state. The results have been published in the journal Science.

The findings suggest that insects have states that fit the criteria of emotions and open up new avenues for research into positive emotions in relatively simple nervous systems.

“Investigating and understanding the basic features of emotion states will help us determine the brain mechanisms underlying emotion across all animals,” said lead author Dr Clint J Perry.

The researchers trained bees to find food at a blue flower and no food at a green flower, and then tested the bees on a new blue-green flower. Bees that drank a small droplet of sugar water prior to the test took less time to land on the ambiguous-coloured flower. Other experiments showed that this behaviour wasn’t due to bees just getting more excited or searching faster.

This indicates that the sweet sugar water may be causing a positive emotion-like state in bees, similar to humans and other animals.

Senior author Professor Lars Chittka said: “The finding that bees exhibit not just surprising levels of intelligence, but also emotion-like states, indicates that we should respect their needs when testing them in experiments, and do more for their conservation.”

In another experiment, bees were subjected to a simulated spider attack, something common in nature. Bees that received the sugar water took less time to reinitiate foraging after the attack.

Luigi Baciadonna, co-author and PhD candidate at QMUL added: “Sweet food can improve negative moods in human adults and reduce crying of new-borns in response to negative events. Our results suggest that similar cognitive responses are occurring in bees.”

Further experiments indicate that neurochemicals involved in emotional processing in humans may play a role in the emotion-like behaviours seen in bees.

The researchers hope the results will prompt further investigation into how small rewards affect bees perception of the world, how emotions may have evolved and determine the underlying mechanisms of emotional states in the brain.

Web Source: University of Queen Mary London.

Journal Reference:

C. J. Perry, L. Baciadonna, L. Chittka. Unexpected rewards induce dopamine-dependent positive emotion-like state changes in bumblebees. Science, 2016; 353 (6307): 1529 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4454

The post Good food puts bees in good mood appeared first on Scienmag.

Share12Tweet7Share2ShareShareShare1

Related Posts

IMAGE

Street trees close to the home may reduce the risk of depression

January 25, 2021
IMAGE

First observation of the early link between proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease

January 25, 2021

Transformations within reach: Pathways to a sustainable and resilient world

January 25, 2021

A new mechanism protects against cancer cell migration and neuron hyperexcitability

January 25, 2021
Next Post
blank

Moderate activity helps older adults maintain mobility, independence

blank

Where you live shapes your immune system more than your genes

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

POPULAR NEWS

  • IMAGE

    The map of nuclear deformation takes the form of a mountain landscape

    54 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14
  • People living with HIV face premature heart disease and barriers to care

    68 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • New drug form may help treat osteoporosis, calcium-related disorders

    41 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • New findings help explain how COVID-19 overpowers the immune system

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Tags

Cell BiologycancerChemistry/Physics/Materials SciencesClimate ChangeBiologyInfectious/Emerging DiseasesMedicine/HealthPublic HealthGeneticsMaterialsTechnology/Engineering/Computer ScienceEcology/Environment

Recent Posts

  • Charged up: revolutionizing rechargeable sodium-ion batteries with ‘doped’ carbon anodes
  • Street trees close to the home may reduce the risk of depression
  • Optimal information about the invisible
  • Great potential for the tiniest structures
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In