My Brain and Bees

My brain is a funny place. It wants to learn things which is why I asked Jill if this week's Podclub pick could be "learny". My brain likes to invent words when an appropriate one can't be found. I do have a habit of misplacing my words.  Jill agreed that this would be a good time to learn something. A new episode by the guys at Stuff You Should Know entitled "How Bees Work" seemed harmless enough.  

My brain likes to pretend it's listening. It's like "oh wow, uh huh, amazing, really?" when it's actually hard at work thinking about completely unrelated things like if I should unravel my current crochet invention because it's clearly going to be a tangled mess or wondering what I'd like to make for my afternoon green juice. 

So what I actually learned from this podcast was minimal. I did manage to absorb that the females rule and that bees make nectar into honey because it takes up less space. How they go about doing it is rather disgusting and makes me a teensy bit glad I'm vegan and don't eat honey anymore. It's amazing that it has antibacterial qualities but the fact that it's because it's basically hydrogen peroxide isn't very appetizing. 

The thing that caught my attention completely and made me stop all the other sneaky side thoughts was that bees dance to communicate. That's right they DANCE! Watch and be amazed. 

The Waggle Dance

I used to be a dancer and I'm fairly certain this is about what I looked like when I tried to do a complicated turning combination across the floor that required doing pique turns in a square and then traveling forward a bit and then doing them in a square again. I mostly tried to move my body in the general direction everyone else was going. I was waggling obviously, all the cool bees were doing it.

Podclub is a weekly meeting of ears and the brains between those ears. Just Jill and I pick an episode on Monday to report on by Friday(ish). We have the lovely Leah join in once in a while and would welcome anyone else who feels the urge. Be brave! It's fun and it's free and it's faster than reading a whole book. In fact, your eyes get to take a break for the whole thing. (Well, technically if you are walking or doing anything other than laying down your eyes don't get an actual break but they aren't required to read anything) (Well, technically if you are out walking or doing anything and you see a word or a combination of words your brain will read them whether you like it or not).