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Biology · Social insects
Hive & Colony
Find out why bees build hexagons, decode the waggle dance, see like a bee and watch ants find the shortest path.
Biology · Social insects
Hive & Colony
Find out why bees build hexagons, decode the waggle dance, see like a bee and watch ants find the shortest path.
The course
7 worlds · 28 lessons
World 1 · Inside the Hive
FREEOne family of tens of thousands, living as a single unit- 01Meet the colony: queen, workers, dronesThree kinds of bee, one family · 11 min
- 02From egg to beeThree days, a few more days, and a new bee · 12 min
- 03A bee's jobs change with ageThe same worker is a cleaner, a nurse, a builder, a guard and a forager · 11 min
- 04The hive's yearSpring growth, summer harvest, autumn clear-out, winter cluster · 12 min
World 2 · Why Hexagons?
PROGeometry, wax and a famous theorem- 01Which shapes tile a floor?Gaps, angles and 360 degrees · 11 minPRO
- 02Same area, how much wall?Hexagons save wax · 12 minPRO
- 03The honeycomb conjecture, and how bees really buildA proof, a 2013 idea, and an honest "scientists still discuss it" · 13 minPRO
- 04Cells, tilt and waxTwo-sided comb, a small upward slope and walls thinner than paper · 11 minPRO
World 3 · The Waggle Dance
PROHow bees share a map without a map
World 4 · Seeing Like a Bee
PROEyes, ultraviolet, polarised sky and a nose on each antenna- 01A compound eyeThousands of tiny lenses · 11 minPRO
- 02UV and the flower's secret mapColours we cannot see, and one we hardly see at all · 12 minPRO
- 03The polarised sky compassA pattern in blue sky that bees can read · 13 minPRO
- 04Smell, taste and touchMost of the hive is dark and runs on chemistry · 12 minPRO
World 5 · Ant Trails and Shortest Paths
PROFrom a line of ants to an algorithm
World 6 · The Colony as a Superorganism
PRODecisions without a decider