Data, Dancing and Honey Bees

When we think of data, we often see it is as a recent term and concept or a resource that we can collect and derive value from.  The truth is data is everywhere, it’s all around us…

So many of our technological advances as humans have been inspired by the flawless systems in the natural world. At Pollenize we believe the more we learn from and mimic nature’s designs– the more we can do to lessen the negative impact we have on them.  

Pollenize Native Black Honey Bees | Credit: Chris Parkes

Destined for success

The honey bee, which has been around for 140 million years, hasn’t stood the test of time by fluke. As well as countless evolutionary adaptations, the honey bee is also a perfect example of how even the smallest of insects can select useful data streams and use them to survive. They have been using data long before humans even existed or pondered its potential.

A honey bee colony is often considered a superorganism, with up to 50 thousand individuals functioning as a super unit.  They can visit up to 5 million flowers in a season from a choice of 159 different species of native plants here in the UK.  These are not just any flowers but the flowers that have co-evolved with them over millennia, this knowledge is passed down through the bees’ DNA. This knowledge is power.

Honey bees have the ability to pass on this wealth of knowledge with very little parental involvement and so millions of years of data is compressed and transferred through biological inheritance for creatures that only typically live for 50 days.

Karl von Frisch | Credit: thefamouspeople.com

Expanding on the work of a genius

Nobel prize winner Karl von Frisch and his team studied the behaviour of honey bees for decades and their pioneering research led to the discovery and decoding of the ‘Waggle Dance’. This method of communication is a waggling movement performed by honey bees at the hive to indicate to other bees key information about the local forage, including its direction and distance.

Karl von Frisch’s findings gave an insight into something that human beings would otherwise have no understanding of. Through the waggle dance, we are now able to begin the journey to understanding bees' collective consciousness and how they perceive the environment in a way that humans would struggle to even comprehend.  

Pollenize Royal Willam Yard Apiary | Credit: Chris Parkes

Can we crack the code?

As it stands, meaningful translation and decoding of the waggle dance must be done manually- an unsurprisingly time-consuming task. Pollenize has taken the challenge to remedy this.  

In November 2020 we secured funding from the South West Creative Technology Network (SWTCN) to develop a unique prototype. Our Co-Founder Matthew Elmes has since been working alongside expert collaborators to connect with our own honey bee colonies on a whole new level.

Pollenize is deep into the process of developing an accelerometer-enabled hive, equipped with artificially intelligent cameras that can automatically detect the waggle dance. With this technology we can work out where our bees are going in real time and together with pollen DNA analysis, we can identify exactly what they are feeding on.

This project will bridge the gap between science and the public by creating an immersive digital visualisation of this natural phenomenon, the health of the hive, the bee's movements and so much more! We’re taking the challenge a step further through a collaboration with award-winning musician Simon Dobson, who is working to interpret our data through detailed musical compositions.

Pollenize Co Founder Matthew Elmes | Credit Chris Parkes

Watch this space…

We are working towards a future where bees are the messengers of ecosystem health, using machines will help us understand their knowledge so we can design a better environment for them and us - going full circle sustaining our existence on a very poorly planet.

Our challenge as beekeepers and pollinator conservationists is to unravel the mysterious foreign communications bees use and rely on. Nature's processes can be ignorantly overlooked but when studied and scrutinised, patterns emerge, and lessons can be learned.  Karl von Frisch cracked the code but it's time to take the next step and automate this so that it's not just an enigma.

Find out more on this exciting Pollenize project and our other work within our community. You can also play your part in ensuring our Pollinators here in the UK can survive for years to come by planting our science-backed native wildflowers.