Bumblebees have tiny brains but they can solve problems like chimps and elephants

NPR Science LISTEN & FOLLOW NPR App Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music iHeart Radio YouTube Music RSS link Science Bumblebees have tiny brains but they can solve problems like chimps and elephants June 7, 20265:00 AM ET Ari Daniel Bumblebees figured out how to get to an out-of-reach reward in a new study, proving they can problem-solve on the fly. Mikko Törmänen/University of Oulu hide caption toggle caption Mikko Törmänen/University of Oulu For new discoveries, everyday mysteries, and the science behind the headlines, follow NPR's ShortWave podcast . Over a century ago, the German psychologist Wolfgang Köhler conducted what became a classic experiment. He suspended a banana to keep it just out of reach of a chimpanzee, placing a pile of boxes and crates nearby. The chimp soon stacked up the boxes, climbed them and grabbed the treat. This was evidence, Köhler believed, of spontaneous problem solving by the chimpanzee; no training was required. It was the kind of thing that humans do all the time. Sponsor Message Since Köhler's early work, researchers have conducted similar experiments involving an out-of-reach reward and an object to stand upon in birds and elephants. And both have solved the problem successfully. Science Peer pressure can make this clownfish change its stripes Olli Loukola, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Turku in Finland wondered whether bumblebees — short-lived creatures with miniscule brains — might be capable of the same task. And in a paper recently published in the journal Science, he and his colleagues present evidence that they are. Untrained bumblebees consistently managed to roll a small Styrofoam ball into a position that allowed them to climb atop it to reach a rewarding stimulus overhead. "I wasn't expecting that high success rate," Loukola says. He concludes that "very tiny brains can solve super complex problems." Word of the week Bees have coexisted with us for over a millennium. Their name remains a mystery Expecting g...