Bees, Play, and Culture: Inside Bee Intelligence and Varroa Mites

Bees emerge on this episode not just as pollinators but as creatures of learning and social culture. Host Emily Kwong talks with entomologist Dr. Sammy Ramsey about how bees solve puzzles, teach one another, and even engage in play, revealing a sophistication that mirrors cultural transmission in other animals. The discussion weaves scenes from the National Geographic docuseries Secrets of the Bees with Ramsey’s insights on bee brains, learning, and colony welfare, and it also confronts the real-world threat of varroa mites and pesticide exposure that imperil hives globally. The piece highlights funding challenges for bee research and underscores the urgency of protecting pollinators that underpin ecosystems and food systems.

Introduction and Guest

The podcast opens with a blend of science storytelling and documentary footage, featuring Sammy Ramsey, a bee entomologist and producer on the National Geographic docuseries Secrets of the Bees. Ramsey explains the extraordinary world of honeybees, including their defenses, social structure, and the surprising cognitive abilities that allow colonies to function as a unit. The host situates the conversation within an overarching goal: to explore how bees learn, communicate, and adapt in ways that challenge our assumptions about insect intelligence. The transcript suggests a length of roughly 1,800 words, signaling a dense, multi-faceted discussion that moves from bee brains to hive behavior and global bee health. Ramsey’s expertise anchors the episode as it transitions from awe to urgency, anchoring the science in real-world implications for pollination and agriculture.

Bee Brains and Learning

One focal point is the bee brain, described as tiny yet capable of complex learning. Ramsey draws a comparison to human discovery through trial and error, illustrating how bees identify useful foods and, crucially, how they teach one another. A striking moment occurs when Ramsey discusses second-order thinking in bees, a level of cognition that involves planning for a future state and understanding the sequence of actions needed to reach a goal. This challenges long-standing views that insects possess only simple, reflex-driven intelligence. The lab footage from Queen Mary University of London showcases bees solving problems and then transferring that knowledge to other bees, a demonstration Ramsey frames as a form of culture—defined as the lateral and generational transfer of learning that shapes colony life. The section emphasizes how such learning and teaching within a colony supports the resilience and adaptability of social insects under changing environmental pressures.

"The intelligence of that is absolutely stag," - Dr. Sammy Ramsey, Entomologist

Play, Culture, and Transmission

The episode highlights play as a meaningful activity in bees, not merely a side effect of hunger or necessity. In a notable sequence, bees in an arena ignore a sugar reward and instead engage with colored wooden balls, rolling and manipulating them—an activity Ramsey interprets as play that fosters learning, problem-solving, and social interaction within the colony. This observation supports a broader claim: play and exploration are mechanisms by which insects refine cognitive skills, a notion that bridges vertebrate and invertebrate information processing. Ramsey emphasizes that play contributes to long-term learning and flexibility, illustrating how bees’ play behavior complements their foraging and nest-building activities. The host and guest discuss how such behaviors complicate simplistic views of insect behavior and underscore continuity across animal lineages in the emergence of culture and learning.

"play is one of those things that helps develop the systems of learning that insects like wolf pups and dogs and cats and everything will use in the future to develop systems to learn more effectively, to practice, like hunting and so on." - Dr. Sammy Ramsey, Entomologist

Varroa Mites, Pesticides, and Research Funding

The conversation then turns to a pressing global threat: varroa mites. Ramsey describes how this parasite has become nearly ubiquitous in honeybee populations and explains how mites compromise bee health by transmitting viruses and weakening immune defenses tied to the liver, a critical organ for detoxification and nutrition. The discussion situates the problem as ongoing and escalating, with mites present on every continent and widespread colony losses tied, in part, to pesticide exposure. Ramsey argues for a holistic approach to bee welfare, including reducing reliance on pesticides and maintaining robust funding for bee research. He criticizes policy decisions that have dismantled key infrastructure like the USDA Bee Research Laboratory at times when breakthroughs could still be achieved, stressing the need for sustained support to translate scientific advances into practical protections for bees and beekeepers. The segment closes with gratitude for Ramsey’s work and a call to action for listeners to support credible, science-based coverage of pollinator health.

"that lab is being dismantled" - Dr. Sammy Ramsey, Entomologist