• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Reversible Bee Brains

Reversible Bee Brains

October 15, 2012
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/121015_sciup_bee.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Reversible bee brains…I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Honeybees begin their lives as nurse bees, caring for the hive’s queen and her larvae. But by 3 weeks of age they turn into worker bees that search for food. To uncover the cause of this radical behavioral transformation, Arizona State biologist Gro Andam and Johns Hopkins geneticist Andy Feinberg emptied a hive of all the nurses while the worker bees were out foraging. When the workers returned, many of them turned back into nurses to rescue the queen and her offspring. Feinberg says DNA analysis of the bees’ brains showed reversible epigenetic modifications to about 150 genes.

ANDY FEINBERG (Johns Hopkins University):

Where the DNA sequence spells out the language, the words, and so forth, the epigenetic information kind of  spells out the grammar, what genes should be turned on, what should be turned off.

HIRSHON:

He says the research could shed light on human behaviors such as addiction. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Researcher Andy Feinberg and daughter don appropriate garb to study honeybees. (Osman Kaftanoglu)
A honeybee worker forages. (Maciej Czyżewski/Wikimedia Commons)
Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Animal Behavior, Biology, Brain Science, Genetics & Evolution
Previous Post:Podcast for 12 October 2012
Next Post:Long-lived Eunuchs

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Cat Video
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • NASA
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Image of computer screen depicting an orange cat with a variety of alphanumeric scientific data superimposed on the the screen.
Spotted skunk performing handstand to threaten predators

Copyright © 2025 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos