Quote:
>Millions of dollars have now been spent repeatedly trying to prove
>that bee "language" is real, despite earlier claims by researchers that
>they have already "proven" the hypothesis true.  Wouldn't all that
>expenditure of time and money be better spent on real problems that
>beekeepers face every day? 

Dear group,

I feel I must point out that the most of the money spent studying honey bee
communication could not have been spent on "real problems" simply because it
was used by people who are not working in that field. The research into bee
dances, etc. is carried out by people like Tom Seeley, who isn't an
entomologist at all and is studying a much bigger picture. I have met Tom
Seeley and I believe that everyone who meets him comes away with the
impression that he is a brilliant and thoughtful scientist. He is not very
likely to be deluding himself nor anyone else. 

Some info from his web page:


Thomas D. Seeley
Department of Neurobiology 
Cornell University
 
My scientific work focuses on understanding one of the five major
transitions in evolution, namely the transition from organism to group as
the highest level of functionally organized entity.

To understand this transition, we must solve two puzzles: Why is there
strong cooperation among the members of a highly integrated group? and How
do the members of such a group work together as an adaptive unit? My
students and I address both of these questions by investigating colonies of
honey bees. 

Some of the principal findings that I and my students have made in studying
the functional unity of honey bee colonies are described briefly:

A colony chooses its future home site carefully and well.

The decision-making process during nest-site selection utilizes a curious
means of consensus building.

Courses Taught:

Introduction to Behavior; Animal Communication; Mechanisms of Insect
Behavior; Biology of Social Insects; Major Transitions in Evolution

http://tinyurl.com/hm5ee

http://www.nbb.cornell.edu/neurobio/department/Faculty/seeley/seeley.html

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