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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/science/brains-of-honeybee-scouts-are-wired-for-adventure.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bee%20gene%20robinson&st=cse<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>March 9, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h1><nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" "><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:24.0pt'>Brains of Bee Scouts Are Wired for Adventure<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></nyt_headline></h1>
<h6 itemprop=name><b><font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:7.5pt'><nyt_byline><span itemprop=creator itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">By
SINDYA N. BHANOO<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h6>
</span>
<p itemprop=articleBody><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'></nyt_byline><nyt_text><nyt_correction_top></nyt_correction_top>Some
<a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/bees/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"
title="More articles about bees.">honeybees</a> are known to be thrill-seeking
adventurers — the David Blaines of their hive, so to speak. Known as
scouts, they fearlessly leave their hives and search for new sources of food
and new hive locations for the rest of the colony. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p itemprop=articleBody><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Now, a new study suggests that these scouts have genetic
brain patterns that set them apart from other bees. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p itemprop=articleBody><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>“We found massive differences in brain gene
expressions between scouts and nonscouts,” said <a
href="http://www.life.illinois.edu/entomology/faculty/robinson.html">Gene E.
Robinson</a>, a geneticist at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>
of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Illinois</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>,
Urbana-Champaign, and an author of <a
href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6073/1225.abstract"
title="Study abstract.">the study</a>, which appears in the current issue of
the journal Science. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p itemprop=articleBody><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>The scientists also found that by increasing or
inhibiting certain chemicals in the brain, they could encourage scouting
behavior in otherwise timid bees, and suppress it in the thrill seekers.
“By manipulating some neurochemical pathways, we could increase the chances
of scouting behavior,” Dr. Robinson said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p itemprop=articleBody><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>That behavior, he added, has analogues in human
society. Just as human novelty seekers run the gamut from bold leaders to drug
takers to enthusiasts for extreme sports like bungee jumping, the new research
indicates that scouting bees also have a range of brain variations. “We
find this intriguing parallel, and we see these molecular similarities,”
Dr. Robinson said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p itemprop=articleBody><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>The chemicals that seem to be connected to scouting
activity include catecholamine, glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid —
all chemicals that are also involved in regulating thrill-seeking behavior in
humans and other vertebrates. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p itemprop=articleBody><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>The researchers think these molecular pathways evolved
similarly in bees and humans. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<nyt_correction_bottom>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom></nyt_text></div>
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