To find out more about the podcast go to From bees doing maths to fish driving cars: teaching animals irrelevant skills can help unlock the secrets of cognition – podcast.
Below is a short summary and detailed review of this podcast written by FutureFactual:
Bees Learn Numbers: Ecologically Irrelevant Experiments and the Evolution of Intelligence
Bees can be trained to distinguish numbers using sugar rewards, revealing that even seemingly irrelevant experiments illuminate cognitive processes and the evolution of intelligence. Dr Scarlett Howard describes how individual bees learn differently, with no single "aha moment," and discusses how such studies inform neuromorphic technologies and our broader understanding of cognition across species. The conversation also touches on funding pressures and the ongoing debate about the real-world relevance of curiosity-driven science, arguing that exploring fundamental questions can yield unexpected insights for humanity and ecosystems alike.
Defining Ecologically Irrelevant Experiments
In this interview, Dr Scarlett Howard clarifies how she differentiates ecologically relevant from ecologically irrelevant science. She defines ecological irrelevance as experimental designs and interpretations that ignore the life history, ecology and natural environment of the species being studied, using examples such as training bees to categorize odd versus even numbers or other numeracy tasks that may not map directly onto bees’ everyday foraging. The discussion also acknowledges that researchers often disagree about what counts as relevant, and that the boundary can shift depending on context.
"there's no really clear pathway to ecological relevance" - Dr Scarlett Howard, Lecturer and research fellow, Monash University
Bees and Numeracy: The Experimental Setup
Howard describes the practical steps to teach bees to discriminate numbers. The experiments use Apis mellifera in field- and hive-based setups with sugar feeders that recruit bees to a circular arena with landing platforms and stimulus cards showing numbers or symbols. Bees are trained to choose the higher-number card to receive a sugar reward, while incorrect choices are subtly discouraged with a bitter-tasting substance. Training occurs over multiple visits, sometimes spanning hours, with individual bees marked for identification. The design combines repetition with randomization to ensure that accuracy reflects genuine numerical discrimination rather than simple cueing.
"each bee learned differently, and there was no singular aha moment" - Dr Scarlett Howard
Individual Variation and the Absence of a Single Aha Moment
The research reveals pronounced individual differences: some bees excel at certain tasks, others learn slowly or not at all. This variation can be advantageous for the colony if conditions change, since flexible learners may adapt better when floral resources shift due to climate or habitat changes. A collaboration with a theoretical physicist aimed at finding a population-level "aha moment" yielded the opposite result—learning varied across individuals, challenging a simplistic model of animal cognition and highlighting the richness of intra-species diversity.
"there is a lot of value to these seemingly ecologically relevant experiments and, I think they're quite important to science overall" - Dr Scarlett Howard
Broader Value, Relevance, and Funding Considerations
Howard argues that apparently irrelevant experiments can still advance science, technology, and understanding of cognition and evolution. Such work may inform neuromorphic and bio-inspired technologies by showing how animals solve problems with minimal energy, offering insights into efficient computation that could inform energy-intensive data centers. The conversation also touches on funding pressures and the challenge of selling research that does not have immediate ecological relevance. Howard contends that curiosity-driven studies can yield future benefits, including understanding how cognition evolves and how animals adapt to changing environments, which in turn can have downstream implications for agriculture, conservation, and our grasp of intelligence across species.
"just because something might not have relevance to ecology, it doesn't mean there's no relevance to science or society as a whole" - Dr Scarlett Howard
