Robot Bee Communicator

John 1:10
“He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.”

Scientists have, for the first time, successfully communicated with honeybees in their own language! Scientists have for some time known how to interpret many of the elements of the bees’ so-called “waggle dance.” This dance is used by scouts to communicate the location of food sources to the food gatherers in the hive.

A couple decades ago, researchers decided to see if they could confirm their understanding of bee communication. But how do you talk to a bee and get confirmation that she understood what you said? Scientists decided that the only way to do this was to build a robot bee through which they could communicate. The first attempts at building a robot bee acceptable to real bees did not work well. Early models were viciously attacked.

Scientists finally perfected a computer-controlled robot bee that real honeybees accepted. These scientists describe honeybee language as elegant and precise. Yet they found they had learned enough bee language to communicate successfully a food source and its location to real bees. They also discovered that they have much more to learn about bee language. As a result, it may someday be possible for farmers to direct bees to crops that need pollination.

Just as bees can best understand other bees, we humans can best understand other humans. That explains why, when God our Creator wished to communicate with us, He became a human being. That human, Jesus Christ, taught us about God; and He also made peace with God for us, making possible the forgiveness of our sins.

Prayer:
I thank You, Lord, that You became a human being so that I might have my sins forgiven. I also thank You that in becoming human, You helped us understand our Creator’s loving intentions toward us. Help me to communicate this to others. Amen.

Author: Paul A. Bartz

Notes:
Weiss, Rick. 1989. “New dancer in the hive.” Science News, v. 136, Oct. p. 282.