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Hi All,

In the stretch of a topic post, the January 6th Science Mag has a fascinating article about decision making in honey bees.  It turns out that hive driven decisions are horribly noisy.  But that a decisive decision emerges from some scout bees inhibiting the signals of other scout bees.  The effect mimics the sensory refinement of nervous systems with a kind of social "lateral inhibition.  It reminds me of advocacy, votes, courts, and facts in human behavior; why decisions always become so decisive.

Stop Signals Provide Cross Inhibition in Collective Decision-Making by Honeybee Swarms
Thomas D. Seeley1,*, P. Kirk Visscher2, Thomas Schlegel3, Patrick M. Hogan4, Nigel R. Franks3,James A. R. Marshall4


It's a fun read.
C



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