What a Bee Knows

For many of us, the buzzing of a bee elicits panic. But the next time you hear that low droning sound, look closer: the beehas navigated to this particular spot for a reason using a fascinating set of tools. She may be using her sensitive olfactoryorgans, which provide a 3D scent map of her surroundings. She may be following visual landmarks or instructionsrelayed by a hive-mate. She may even be tracking electrostatic traces left on flowers by other bees. What a Bee Knows:Exploring the Thoughts, Memories, and Personalities of Bees invites us to follow bees’ mysterious paths and experience theiralien world. Although their brains are incredibly small—just one million neurons compared to humans’ 100 billion—bees haveremarkable abilities to navigate, learn, communicate, and remember. In What a Bee Knows, entomologist StephenBuchmann explores a bee’s way of seeing the world and introduces the scientists who make the journey possible. We travel into the field and to the laboratories of noted bee biologists who have spent their careers digging into the questionsmost of us never thought to ask (for example: Do bees dream? And if so, why?). With each discovery, Buchmann’sinsatiable curiosity and sense of wonder is infectious. What a Bee Knows will challenge your idea of a bee’s place in the world—and perhaps our own. This lively journey into abee’s mind reminds us that the world is more complex than our senses can tell us.