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Bees and flowers communicate using electrical fields, researchers discover

bristol.ac.uk

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Re: Bees and flowers communicate using electrical fields, researchers discover

#11

Post by mjhoy »

jeremyx wrote: post #2

What is more interesting to me, is the fact that flowers are beautiful and bees and people seem to universally recognize this. There is a sophisticated information exchange going with respect to how flowers evolved to attract pollinators. Co-evolution with information exchange across species. See David Deutsch's 'The Beginning of Infinity' for a fascinating discussion on objective beauty...

See also one of my favorites, Feynman's "Ode on a Flower": https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=...

It only adds... I don't understand how it subtracts.

Re: Bees and flowers communicate using electrical fields, researchers discover

#13

Post by networked »

jeremyx wrote: post #2

What is more interesting to me, is the fact that flowers are beautiful and bees and people seem to universally recognize this. There is a sophisticated information exchange going with respect to how flowers evolved to attract pollinators. Co-evolution with information exchange across species. See David Deutsch's 'The Beginning of Infinity' for a fascinating discussion on objective beauty...

Flowers have evolved to look, smell and taste in a way that attracts pollinators, some of whom also happen to see colors and appreciate sweet things much like we do. While we, humans, find many wild flowers attractive because we share some of our preferences with their pollinators, some times [1] it's painfully clear that we're not the target audience. On the other hand, domesticated flowers you can buy as at a flower shop today were bred for centuries specifically to better satisfy human tastes, so it's no wonder we like them so much.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrion_flower

Re: Bees and flowers communicate using electrical fields, researchers discover

#14

Post by [deleted] »

kbutler wrote: post #6
jpdoctor wrote: post #3

> Plants are usually charged negatively and emit weak electric fields. On their side, bees acquire a positive charge as they fly through the air. ... > How then do bees detect electric fields? Why is the answer not as simple as: The bees feel an attractive force when they are near the flower?

Because the attractive force is so small. The net force of the electric field plus gravity is likely very similar to just gravity. You may have rubbed a balloon on your hair, generating a static charge. You feel no attractive force toward the balloon, but your hair is pulled toward it, and your nerves can detect the changed angles of the hair.

[deleted]

Re: Bees and flowers communicate using electrical fields, researchers discover

#15

Post by jeremyx »

kbutler wrote: post #9
jeremyx wrote: post #2

What is more interesting to me, is the fact that flowers are beautiful and bees and people seem to universally recognize this. There is a sophisticated information exchange going with respect to how flowers evolved to attract pollinators. Co-evolution with information exchange across species. See David Deutsch's 'The Beginning of Infinity' for a fascinating discussion on objective beauty...

Coincidence - we like flowers, and admire bees. So we appreciate that bees are attracted to beauty. Replace bees with flies, and flowers with manure (or plants that seek to attract flies http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0602.htm ). Where's the objective beauty?

There is something more than that. There are many beautiful things, but flowers in particular seem to stand out as something that is recognized for their beauty regardless of culture, time or place. In the same way that people the world over, independent of one another, come up with the same conclusions about geometry and mathematics...

Re: Bees and flowers communicate using electrical fields, researchers discover

#16

Post by SagelyGuru »

jpdoctor wrote: post #3

> Plants are usually charged negatively and emit weak electric fields. On their side, bees acquire a positive charge as they fly through the air. ... > How then do bees detect electric fields? Why is the answer not as simple as: The bees feel an attractive force when they are near the flower?

While it is true that hairs can sense small electrostatic forces better, I would not rule out the attractive force on the whole bee, whose mass is quite small. People are not generally aware that electrostatic force is 10^36 times stronger than gravity.

Re: Bees and flowers communicate using electrical fields, researchers discover

#17

Post by samstave »

jeremyx wrote: post #2

What is more interesting to me, is the fact that flowers are beautiful and bees and people seem to universally recognize this. There is a sophisticated information exchange going with respect to how flowers evolved to attract pollinators. Co-evolution with information exchange across species. See David Deutsch's 'The Beginning of Infinity' for a fascinating discussion on objective beauty...

Everyone here would like the documentary "the botany of desire"

Re: Bees and flowers communicate using electrical fields, researchers discover

#18

Post by username3 »

networked wrote: post #13
jeremyx wrote: post #2

What is more interesting to me, is the fact that flowers are beautiful and bees and people seem to universally recognize this. There is a sophisticated information exchange going with respect to how flowers evolved to attract pollinators. Co-evolution with information exchange across species. See David Deutsch's 'The Beginning of Infinity' for a fascinating discussion on objective beauty...

Flowers have evolved to look, smell and taste in a way that attracts pollinators, some of whom also happen to see colors and appreciate sweet things much like we do. While we, humans, find many wild flowers attractive because we share some of our preferences with their pollinators, some times [1] it's painfully clear that we're not the target audience. On the other hand, domesticated flowers you can buy as at a flowe…

Does anyone ever wonder if evolutionists are like people that want websites like Amazon for $1000 [1]?

[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5222581

Re: Bees and flowers communicate using electrical fields, researchers discover

#19

Post by mercuryrising »

jeremyx wrote: post #2

What is more interesting to me, is the fact that flowers are beautiful and bees and people seem to universally recognize this. There is a sophisticated information exchange going with respect to how flowers evolved to attract pollinators. Co-evolution with information exchange across species. See David Deutsch's 'The Beginning of Infinity' for a fascinating discussion on objective beauty...

The beauty of flowers to humans is a byproduct of awesome evolving for the eyesight of bees.

Have you ever seen a flower like a bee sees it? Bees can see in UV as well as visible. The results are interesting, as it's nothing we would ever see when looking at a flower. Even dandelions are beautiful with UV.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-473897/A-bees...

Re: Bees and flowers communicate using electrical fields, researchers discover

#20

Post by networked »

username3 wrote: post #18
networked wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flowers have evolved to look, smell and taste in a way that attracts pollinators, some of whom also happen to see colors and appreciate sweet things much like we do. While we, humans, find many wild flowers attractive because we share some of our preferences with their pollinators, some times [1] it's painfully clear that we're not the target audience. On the other hand, domesticated flowers you can buy as at a flowe…

Does anyone ever wonder if evolutionists are like people that want websites like Amazon for $1000 [1]? [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5222581

What do you mean by "evolutionists" and what similarity do you have in mind?
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