On 1/22/2014 11:53 PM, Mike S wrote:
> My hypothesis is that the bees can detect the angle of the sun and it's apparent movement north and south of the equator as perceived from here on earth, and that as the sun's apparent position moves northward, the bees detect that and initiate increased brood rearing.

I'm not a physicist and would love to be corrected if I'm totally 
missing the mark, but my understanding is that gravitational pull is a 
function of both mass and distance. That's why the moon orbits the earth 
instead of solely orbiting the sun. It is also my understanding that the 
gravitational pull of the sun isn't nearly as strong on a hive as the 
gravitational pull of the beekeeper, and some beekeepers exert more pull 
than others. It seems very unlikely to me that bees would be able to 
discern the source of all the gravitational pulls they are subjected to 
and tune their physiology to a relatively slight pull that changes 
extremely slowly, if at all.

Randall Austin
Ignorant but curious

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