Last weekend, CBC radio aired an interesting story concerning research
being done on wasp brains. When I heard it I thought someone would mention
it on Bee-L but I see no one has. So I will pass on what I can remember.

Sean O'Donnell? from Seattle University has been studying colonies of
wasps in Costa Rica. He has found that as the wasps graduate from simple
housekeeping tasks performed inside the nest to more complex tasks outside
the nest their brains grow bigger. I believe Mr. O'Donnell said the region
of the brain that grows is known to be responsible for cognitive
functions. More research needs to be done to find if the wasp's brain
grows larger because of the increased demands on it (how to find and
gather food in a complex and changing environment)or if wasp brains simply
grow with age.

Mr O'Donnell was not asked why he is doing this research on wasps instead
of honeybees. It seems likely that honeybee brains would grow in a similar
way. With honeybees you could solve the chicken or egg question by
incubating several frames of brood, letting them hatch out with a new
queen and seeing if the bees that take up the tasks of foraging have
bigger brains than those that clean cells. Does anyone know if this
research has been done with honeybees?

All this could explain why drones don't seem to do much of anything. Given
the large size of their heads it seems likely they have a brain to match
and that they spend a lot of time just thinking about the complex task
they have to perform outside the nest.

Speaking of the chicken or the egg I heard a joke the other day. A chicken
and an egg are in bed together. The chicken is looking frustrated and the
egg is taking a drag on a cigarette. And the egg says " Well, I guess that
answers that question".

Bees look good. Started bringing in the first of the pussywillow pollen
late last week. We could use some rain.

Hope you are all getting rain,

Ted

Ted

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