A Thousand Words for a Bee

Deuteronomy 6:5
“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. While that is often true, they also say that it takes a highly evolved brain to picture objects and remember them. Science is learning that this bit of evolutionary myth is indeed fiction.

As far as the honeybee is concerned, not all flowers are created equal. Some flowers are a good source of nectar while others are a waste of time. Alfalfa flowers can kill a honeybee because they are designed for pollination by larger insects. When an insect lands, a central petal in the flower releases the stamen and sweeps pollen upward to aid pollination. Honeybees can be tossed off the flower or trapped inside by this action.

Scientists always thought that honeybees solved the problem of finding safe and productive flowers by remembering a list of characteristics. They believed the honeybee was evolutionarily too simple to remember mental pictures of favored flowers. However, recent experiments have convinced scientists that bees actually store a mental picture of productive flowers. In these experiments, bees were rewarded with sugar water for visiting some patterns and not others. Their reactions showed that they remember images, not simply patterns.

What’s more, the experiments showed that bees are quite intelligent and good learners. One scientist noted that these experiments showed that evolution’s assumptions about so-called higher and lower creatures are false. Those who believe in evolution are having to rethink their view of the world. Meanwhile, we can give thanks to God for so generously giving the gift of intelligence to so many of His creatures.

Prayer:
Lord, I thank You for the intelligence You have given me, and I ask that You would forgive me for the times when I have ignored and misused this great gift. Let me serve You with all my heart and soul and mind. Amen.

Notes:
“To honeybees, a picture is worth a thousand line angles.” Science News, v. 127. p. 196.