Can we talk to bees?

Oxford Sparks Big Questions

We are out in the wild today talking to bees!

In this behind the scenes episode, we visited Dr Rachel Parkinson’s bee recording studio to see insect neuroscience research in action.

You might know that honeybees communicate with each other using the waggle dance, a minute choreography that shows other bees the way to the flower buffet. But little is known about how bumblebees communicate.

To understand more about bee behaviour, Rachel has created a series of small arenas with cameras and microphones. Using AI, visual and audio recordings can be matched up to create a database of sounds and behaviours which will, in time, hopefully reveal the secret language of bees!