Honey Bee Intelligence: Thinking with One Million Neurons

Explore the fascinating world of honey bee cognition in this 52-minute lecture from Macquarie University's Andrew Barron at IPAM's Naturalistic Approaches to Artificial Intelligence Workshop. Delve into groundbreaking neuroscience research revealing how honey bees, with less than one million neurons, efficiently navigate complex tasks of pollination and resource gathering. Examine the mechanisms behind bee intelligence, their cognitive capabilities and limitations, and how their natural problem-solving approaches differ from current AI and robotics systems. Gain insights into how these remarkable insects serve as consummate generalist pollinators, rapidly learning to harvest pollen and nectar from diverse, scattered flowers while successfully returning resources to their hives.