You might not expect to find much in common between a human brain and the brain of a flying insect that’s happy to sacrifice itself, for its colony’s safety, by tearing off its entire back end in your arm. But certain bees share a personality trait with certain humans. Even if their needs are met at home, they’re compelled to go searching for new experiences. And shared brain chemistry might be what’s driving both of us.
Although the worker bees in a hive are closely related sisters, they can have different habits. Some tend to “scout,” an activity that comes in two flavors. Nest scouting happens when a swarm of bees defects from its home hive and goes in search of a new place to live; the scouts seek out good locations and then report back to the group. And food scouts go searching for new flower patches to feed ...
