Skip to content
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Menu
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Happy News

Scientists Taught Bees To Read Morse Code

A groundbreaking new study from Queen Mary University of London is the first to show that an insect can differentiate between different durations of visual cues, with bumblebees successfully learning to distinguish between Morse code style dots and dashes, an ability previously seen only in humans and other vertebrates including macaques and pigeons. Researchers built a special maze to train individual bees to find a sugar reward at one of two flashing circles, with short flashes or “dots” associated with sugar while long flashes or “dashes” were paired with bitter quinine that bees dislike. At each room in the maze the position of the dot and dash stimulus changed so bees couldn’t rely on spatial cues, forcing them to truly learn the difference between flash durations rather than locations.

After bees learned to go straight to the correct flashing circle paired with sugar, they were tested with flashing lights but no sugar present to confirm their choices were driven by the light duration rather than olfactory or visual cues from the reward itself. PhD student Alex Davidson expressed excitement at seeing the bees succeed, noting it’s remarkable they could accomplish this task since they don’t encounter flashing stimuli in their natural environment. Most of the bees went straight to the correct flashing light duration previously associated with sugar regardless of spatial location, clearly showing they had learned to tell the lights apart based solely on duration in brains smaller than one cubic millimeter. The surprising ability to encode and process time duration might be a fundamental component of the nervous system intrinsic to neuron properties, with implications for understanding complex cognitive traits in artificial neural networks that should seek biological inspiration for maximum efficiency.

PrevPreviousRescue Chihuahua Only Responds To Spanish
Next12 Year Old’s Response To Bullies Teaches Everyone A LessonNext

Recent Articles

Happy News

This New Underwater Fossil Discovery is 512 Million Year Old

February 6, 2026

Paleontologists have unearthed a treasure trove of fossils from 512 million years ago including 90 species previously unknown to science. The discovery comprises 153 different species from 16 major animal groups including sponges, arthropods and bizarre segmented apex predators known as radiodonts that make up a complex food web, dating

Read More
Happy News

What Makes Some Dogs GENIUS Word Learners

February 6, 2026

Scientists have discovered that some exceptionally skilled dogs called gifted word learners can quickly remember the names of toys, and new research reveals the key factor behind their unusual ability isn’t about curiosity but about their relationship with humans. Animal behaviorist Andrea Sommese of the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna

Read More
Happy News

How Our Voices Affect Dog Behavior

February 6, 2026

Hearing a human voice can affect a dog more than previously thought as new research suggests that angry or happy voices are linked to measurable changes in dogs’ balance, with angry voices often causing destabilizing effects that physically sway their bodies. Scientists led by Nadja Affenzeller at the University of

Read More
« Previous Next »
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2026 HappyNews.