Bees, Beer & the Brain - Science Café
Bees, Beer & the Brain… at Science Café
April 14th, 2009
The room at Foothills Brewery was buzzing as a crowd of over 50 gardeners, graduate students and gray matter enthusiasts gathered to listen to Wake Forest University’s Susan E. Fahrbach, Ph.D. speak on a topic that is dear to our hearts…learning.
Dr. Fahrbach’s presentation, titled “How the Bee Brain Grows”, was given as part of an ongoing community experiment known as Science Café, a model that is locally sponsored and organized in Winston-Salem by Reynolda Gardens, Sciworks and Sigma Χi. According to their website, Science Café is a “grassroots movement” that provides a “casual, open format that readily engages the public in conversations about science”. This was evident at Tuesday’s meeting as several individuals gathered at Foothills Brewery in downtown Winston-Salem to hear Dr.Fahrbach speak.
As illustrated by her presentation, Dr. Fahrbach’s research addresses the question: How does learning change the brain ? To find answers to this question, Dr. Fahrbach uses the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) as her experimental model. Comparing the human brain (~100 billion neurons) with that of a bee brain (~1 million neurons) can be daunting to a layperson at first, but as Dr. Fahrbach revealed, there are some similarities that make the common honey bee an ideal model to study.
For example, recent research out of South Korea has shown that when MRI scans are compared among Basketball Players and Healthy Controls, some of the regions of the brain that are responsible for motor skills, (vermian lobules VI-VII in the cerebellum) are actually significantly enlarged among the basketball players. The thought is, that the repetitive exercises that some basketball players experience may influence growth in certain regions of their brain.
Honey bees also undergo repetitive exercises during certain stages of their life, most notably when they are older and foraging for pollen and nectar. Dr. Fahrbach presented data that showed certain regions of bee brains known as “mushroom bodies” actually increase in size as some bees learn their daily commute back and forth from flowers and the hive. Additionally, Dr. Fahrbach showed data that suggests that bees with more foraging experience, irregardless of age, have larger “mushroom bodies.”
At the end of the presentation individuals had many questions as they had the chance to speak with Dr. Fahrbach on topics ranging from alternative experimental models to thoughts regarding animal behavior. The event was well-received, and offered the community a chance to increase their own scientific-literacy, while also learning some great fundamentals about how the brain works. Hopefully, with repeated successful events like “How the Bee Brain Grows” - we’ll all benefit.
The Next Science Café Topic (Tuesday May 12th, 2009 @ 7pm Foothills):
“Diet and the Heart, The Role of Heart Disease” - Presented by Dr. Lawrence Rudel of Wake Forest University.
The Bee Brain
Apis mellifera
A Brood Frame, the Equivalent of the Bee Colony’s Nursery. Note the concentric pattern (from center to periphery: scattered pupae, uncapped honey, pollen)
Science Cafe’ takes place at Foothills Brewery on Fourth St. in Downtown Winston-Salem
Susan Fahrbach, PhD discusses the similarities (and differences) between brains of bees and humans.
A Bee Brain !
Dr. Fahrbach shows some hands-on items after the talk.
Over 50 Individuals Gathered at Foothills Brewery for the Event !
A Flyer for Science Cafés