Sarah Billings
AP Biology D even
Mr. Ippolito
Gorman, James. "Bumblebees Demonstrate the Power of Insect Brains." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2017. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.
“Just because a brain is small, doesn’t mean it is simple.” That is a point that scientists who study insects having been trying to make as they continue to do research and conduct experiments on the capabilities of insects to solving problems. And as they’ve seen so far, some insects, such as bumblebees, are more than just “little automatons” (programmed to just do certain limited actions). In a recent experiment, researchers trained the bees to actually push a ball into the center of a platform to get a sugary treat afterward. While this may seem simple, this kind of pushing action is way beyond the bees’ natural behavior, meaning that they had to have some ability to learn it. The researchers found that the best method of teaching them was through social learning, where a bee would watch another bee do it and then copy the action. Furthermore, after watching the action, the bees would learn to do it, and actually improve on later tries. According to the researchers, this type of learning is “more often seen in animals with much bigger brains, like monkeys.” Other researchers - such as David Anderson, who studies fruit flies at Caltech - believes that these insects have high potential and “are capable of doing remarkable things.”
Although this topic may not be very helpful to society at the moment, it’s really interesting research that has brought a lot more knowledge about insects, which is such a dominant species in our world that we know so little about because they are so much smaller and harder to study. Furthermore, learning more about the mental abilities of insects could be very beneficial to society, due to the vast amount of them that are present in our lives. I also personally found this topic really relevant because I am really interested in the science of the brain and how behaviors are developed, so this is something I like to know more about.
While the article was really informative overall, there are some parts I felt like could have been improved to make it even better. For example, I wish the author had elaborated a little more on the studies they have been doing with fruit flies as well. Although they mentioned those studies and praised the insects, they never really explained what kind of tests they did on the fruit flies or what the results were. This would have been interesting to hear more about. Additionally, there was no real future plan described in this article, so the reader was left wondering what impact could this have and how the study would be continued. Overall, though, this article presented a lot of different expert opinions and explained the study in a very clear, concise way so the reader could comprehend everything that was happening.
I choose to comment on Sarah’s review of the article “Bumblebees Demonstrate the Power of Insect Brains.” Overall, I thought she did a great job reviewing the article. One thing I really liked was how she begun the article with a quote. This was a great introduction to the summary and was a good way to capture the reader’s attention. Another thing I liked that she did was how she explained what study was conducted to back up her point. She described how the bees were trained to push a ball, an action outside their normal knowledge. This helped the reader to understand why this action was so special. Finally, I liked was how she was honest in her connection. She said that she did not personally think that this article was very relevant in society today but went on to explain how it is still an important topic.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Sarah’s review was well-written overall, there were still some areas that could have been improved. For example, she could have referenced other insects more. Maybe discussed studies of this type done with other insects to help prove that this study for bees can be applied to other insects. Another area that could have been improved was she could have discussed social learning more. She explains what it is but does not say whether the study backed it up or not. She could have expanded upon this idea to improve her review.
Overall, both the article and Sarah’s review were extremely fascinating to read. I found it amazing that bees can learn to do more actions than their brains are programed to do. This seems truly remarkable and I would be interested to learn how much more bees and other insects can learn. It would be cool to see where this ability ends and what else it extends to besides pushing a ball.
Sarah wrote an excellent response to the article “Bumblebees Demonstrate the Power of Insect Brains” by James Gorman. She began with a succinct and informative summary that provides the reader with all of the necessary information. She was able to effectively and efficiently describe the point that scientists have been trying to prove about the complexity of insects’ brains before delving into a great summary of the experiment and its conclusion. Sarah also did a great job of including a comparative quote that helped the reader understand the significance of the results of the experiment. After describing how the bumblebees were able to learn how to push a ball into the center of the platform she includes a quote from a credible researcher who explains that this type of learning is “more often seen in animals with much bigger brains, like monkeys.” I also loved Sarah’s personal connection to the article in her final paragraph. She was able to successfully connect the topic to her interest in the brain and animal behavior.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Sarah wrote a well-written and thorough current event report, there are two places that she could improve. I think that she could have included more contextual information about the background/ goals of the study and where it was taking place. These details would have provided the reader with a more well-rounded understanding of the experiment. I would have also liked if she had included some specific examples of how learning more about insects could benefit society. She touches on the fact that there are so many insects in the world, but she does not explain a specific example about how learning so much about their brains and behaviors can help humankind.
After reading Sarah’s response to Gorman’s article, I have learned about an important scientific study that has revealed the power of insect brains. I think that this topic is interesting because it proves that insects are more aware and complex than we previously believed which is an incredible discovery. This article also connects to a specific type of learning, social learning, which can reveal even more about the behavior of insects.