How headbutts and dances give bees a hive mind

When we make decisions, our brains are abuzz with agreements and vetoes. Groups of neurons represent different choices, and interact with one another until one rises to the fore. The neurons excite some of their neighbours into firing in tandem, while suppressing others into silence. From this noisy cross-talk, a choice emerges. The same thing happens in a bee hive. The entire colony, consisting of tens thousands of individuals, works like a single human nervous system, with each bee behaving like a neuron. When they make a decision, such as choosing where to build a nest, individual bees opt for different choices and they support and veto each other until they reach a consensus. They have, quite literally, a hive mind. One part of this process – the famous waggle dance – was discovered decades ago. By dancing in a figure of eight and waggling their abdomens, bees tell their ...