The Mathematical Abilities of Bees: Better than Most of My Students! By Brian Simpson

     What a pity it is that colony collapse disorder is set to eliminate the world’s bee populations, producing a massive human food crisis. Bees, after all, are smart fellows, better at mathematics than some students.
  https://metro.co.uk/2019/02/06/scientists-buzzing-as-they-prove-bees-can-do-simple-sums-8459072/
  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/01/flowers-can-hear-bees-and-make-their-nectar-sweeter/
  https://www.irishnews.com/magazine/science/2018/03/27/news/honeybee-colonies-mirror-the-human-brain-say-scientists-1288972/

“Bees aren’t the stripey idiots we all thought – as scientists have shown that they can add and subtract, doing simple sums with 75% accuracy. The un-beelievable breakthrough came after scientists taught bees to recognise colours as plus or minus symbols – and then watched, buzzing, as they did sums. The find could have wider implications on our understanding of animal bee-hive-iour (sorry), the scientists believe.

The 14 bees taking part in the study were trained to enter a Y-shaped maze consisting of a tunnel with two alternative exits. At the entrance the bees were shown a display of varied shaped “elements” – a square, diamond, circle or triangle – coloured either yellow or blue. The number of elements – from one to five – was randomly altered throughout the trials. Each colour represented a different mathematical operation – blue for “add one” and yellow for “subtract one”. Once inside the maze the bees entered a “decision chamber” where they had to choose whether to take the left or right fork of the “Y”. More shapes presented at the mouth of each fork represented the correct and incorrect  answer to the problem. If two blue shapes were displayed at the entrance, for instance, the “correct” arm of the “Y” was the one marked by three symbols. In this case, the bees had to work out that two plus one equals three. If the bees were initially greeted by two yellow shapes, it meant they had to fly into the arm marked by one symbol (the correct answer to the sum two minus one). Right answers were rewarded with a tasty drink of sugar water, while making a mistake was “punished” with bitter quinine solution. Training took place over 100 trials, during which the bees made random choices until they learned how to crack the problem. It took up to seven hours for them to learn that blue meant “plus one” and yellow meant “minus one”. Each bee was then given four tests involving two addition and two subtraction operations. The bees chose the correct option between 60% and 75% of the time, said the researchers writing in the journal Science Advances.”

     Computer models of honey bees have suggested that the hive itself is similar in operations to the human brain, indicating that there could be an emergent mind associated with the hive. Not to worry; we are shredding organisms that have minds, even souls in the advancement of global capitalism. In making the global omelette, many eggs must be broken. Just consider these grim Frankenstein experiments, involving sewing aborted baby parts to mice:
  https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8367760/aborted-baby-body-parts-sewn-mice-experiments-us-labs/

“ABORTED babies are being used in macabre experiments in the US that involve grafting dead fetus parts onto mice which are then used to test drugs. Documents seen by Sun Online outline procedures that involve cutting out glands and livers of unborn children and then fusing them onto lab rodents. The use of aborted baby body parts and stems cells has sparked anger among anti-abortion groups in the United States and it has been dubbed “Frankenstein” science. And shocking undercover footage has led to the Donald Trump administration to reassess if the practice should be continued at all. Clinics are supposed to ask if they would like to donate tissue but it is unclear whether the parents are aware their dead children's bodies are being used in this way. But what is known is that abortion clinics are supplying the fetal body parts, although they are not allowed to sell them. Phelim McAleer, who has produced the film Gosnell, about a rogue abortionist, told Fox News: “Aborted babies bodies are a very valuable commodity in today’s America. “Research institutions, elite universities, medical centers pay a lot of money for baby parts."

     Yes, as usual the universities are involved. Clearly, as far as it goes, any research promising to give Big Business fast bucks will be regarded as ethical, and hence funded. The criterion is not benefit to the common good, but how much cash will be delivered to the Masters of the Universe.