A University of Otago study has revealed links between bee brains and human
brains.

The research could eventually be used to help treat human brains according
to Paul Szyszka, a Lecturer in the University of Otago’s Department of
Zoology

“Experiments on humans are expensive, logistically difficult, and time
consuming. Moreover, recordings from individual identified neurons are not
possible in human brains.

"By studying the brains of bees we can overcome these limitations and apply
that knowledge to research, and eventually perhaps even to treatment, of
human brains,” Mr Szyszka says in a release from the university.

According to the release, the research revealed that alpha oscillations in
bees (the wave-like electrical activity brains generate) have similar
properties as in our human brains.

“It is fascinating to see how bees can learn to associate odours with food
in a similar way to humans. What we want to do now is examine how these
alpha oscillations change in different situations.

"As a neuroethologist, I’m interested in how bees’ alpha oscillations
change during natural behaviours, for example when a bee forages or
sleeps,” Mr Szyszka says.

The research has been published today in the journal Proceedings of the
Royal Society B.
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.0115

-- 
Owen Watson

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