Where Bees Get Their Buzz: Caffeine-Laced Nectar

I knew caffeine was good for more than just waking up inn the morning. So drink your coffee and bee smarter.

SOURCE

Nothing kicks the brain in gear like a jolt of caffeine. For bees, that is.

And they don’t need to stand in line for a triple soy latte. A new study shows that the naturally caffeine-laced nectar of some plants enhances the learning process for bees, so that they are more likely to return to those flowers.

“The trick here,” said Dr. Chittka, who was not involved in the research, “is actually to influence the memorability of the signal using a psychoactive drug. And that’s a new trick in the book for plants.”

Robert A. Raguso, who studies the interactions of plants and pollinators at Cornell and was not part of the study, called the paper impressive, adding in an e-mail, “It makes the reader think twice about where natural products that have economic importance to humans actually came from before we ‘discovered’ and co-opted their biology.”

Well thats interesting. I might try it myself i need a boost! Thank you for that