[½»Á÷] ¡¾Share¡¿Bees' brain: incredible mapping machines!

According to the Ahmedabad Mirror of October 27, British scientists have discovered that bees learn to fly the shortest possible route between flowers even if they discover the flowers in a different order.
    The bees are the first animals found to solve "travelling salesman problems".
    The The travelling salesman must find the shortest route that allows him to visit all locations on his route. Computers solve it by comparing the length of all possible routes and choosing the shortest. However, bees solve it without computer assistance using a brain the size of grass seed.
    Nigel Raine, from the School of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway explains: "Foraging bees solve travelling salesman problems every day. They visit flowers at multiple locations and, because bees use lots of energy to fly, they find a route which keeps flying to a minimum."

    As well as enhancing our understanding of how bees move around the landscape pollinating crops and wild flowers, this research, has other applications. Our lifestyle relies on networks such as traffic on the roads, information flow on the Web and business supply chains.
    By understanding how bees can solve their problem we can improve our management of these everyday networks without needing lots of computer time.