Arrangement 3
Create an infinite series of cubes in the 3D space. Let each sphere touch the midpoints of all twelve edges of a cube, and let the spheres be arranged so that each sphere touches twelve surrounding spheres at the midpoint of the edges. As two adjacent touching spheres of a sphere lie in cubes with an edge in common, they also touch, as shown by the diagram below. This means that this arrangement is of maximum density. This is also of maximum stability, as all the spheres around empty spaces touch each other. This is hence the natural arrangement.
Let us consider a certain sphere as the spheres are symmetrically crushed together. The twelve points where it touches other spheres will begin to be pushed in, so it will bulge out at the six faces of the cube. There are four spheres surrounding each face, so as they get pushed out, they will form four-sided pyramids. Each face of a pyramid will also be continuous with the face of a neighbouring pyramid, as both are the final position of an initial point of contact between two spheres. Hence, the rhombic dodecahedron is formed.
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As there are not multiple layers of cells but instead only two adjoined layers of cells, the shape the bees form will be a slice of this rhombic dodecahedron arrangement. As the bees extend the walls of the cells upwards during building, these rhombic semi-dodecahedrons are heightened, leading to cells of elongated rhombic semi-dodecahedrons.
Bees build their hives out of beeswax which they produce by secreting it out of glands in their body. To prepare the beeswax for building, they chew it into a mouldable texture and use it to construct a wall which they shape into a honeycomb. Cells are built on both sides of the beeswax layer, staggered to optimise the space created with the available wax. They sculpt the wax, digging it into a hemispherical shape which, as different bees carve out the adjacent cells and push on the walls, gets fla ened into a hexagon. On the far end of the cell, the staggered formation means that the back of the cell shares a wall with three other cells on the reverse side of the hive, meaning that the back wall that the bee has pushed out will be pushed on by three other bees from different thirds of the hexagon, fla ening the domed wall into three rhombi on the inside of the cell. The bees continue to build up the walls of the honeycomb with the wax scraped out from the interior of the cells, elongating the shape into its final form.
In conclusion, while the bees did not choose the most efficient shape for their beehive, the elongated rhombic semi-dodecahedron is the best natural solution. It allows bees to conserve wax and energy while maximising the space formed. The bees’ ability to collaborate and construct a home efficiently is an incredible feat and
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demonstrates the role of geometry in everyday life across different species and environments. Their building process organically creates the final shape and it is not intentionally formed, but bees and their beehives still remain fascinating aspects of nature and a prime example of one of the ways maths intersects with the natural world.
References
The British Beekeepers Association, “What other things do bees make besides honey?” bbka.org.uk/the-other-things-honeybees-make
Pass the Honey, “How do bees make hives?”, April 11th 2019, passthehoney com/blogs/the-buzz/how-do-bees-make-hives
Ma Parker, “Why Do Bees Make Rhombic Dodecahedrons?”, 6th October 2021, youtube com Patricia Rothman, “Biography of Sophie Bryant”, 18th October 2017, chalkdustmagazine com/biographies/biography-sophie-bryant/ Roberto Cardil, “Kepler and the Rhombic Dodecahedron: Honeycombs and the Rhombic Dodecahedron”, maa org/book/export/html/3405562
Northern Roots Bee Co., “All About Beeswax”, 6th June 2020, northernrootsbeeco.com/blog/beeswax
Philip Ball, “How honeycombs can build themselves”, Nature (2013), nature com/articles/nature 2013 13398
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How,
Alexandra Down, Imen Ait Medjane, Ben Stevens, Jerry Zhang
Although viewed today as a household annoyance, bees have long been valued throughout history, from the Egyptians to Napoleon’s reign. This article will discuss the importance of bees in some of the most influential civilizations.
denote Mancunians’ hard work the worker bee can be seen over Manchester. The Manchester bee symbol is also included on the Manchester coat of Arms.21 contains a globe covered with bees, and has been in use since 1842. This is said represent the city’s “industriousness.”22 In general, the symbol of the bee in Manchester can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution, of which Manchester was a leading city, the bee representing all of the workers. This view of the bee symbol in Manchester was introduced when the Freemasons governed Manchester. “They believed that the bee was extremely important as it was the symbol of cooperation and societies can only accomplish difficult tasks when everybody works together.” Therefore, the sources outlined suggest that the symbol of the bee has been used to represent industriousness and workers in Manchester.
20 Manchester City Council, “The Manchester Bee,” Accessed at: manchester.gov.uk/info/100004/the_council_and_democracy/7580/the_manchester_bee#:~:text=The%20Manchest er%20worker%20bee%20is,unity%20in%20our%20great%20city on 26.09.22.
21 Source 1, The Manchester Coat of Arms.
22 BBC, “The antelope, the lion and the bees,” Accessed at: bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/articles/2009/02/11/110209 _manchester_coat_of_arms_feature.shtml on 26.09.22.
and for what purposes, the symbol of the bee has been used in history.
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Bees represent a very important role in ancient rituals and Egyptian life. For example, Egyptian priests took part in a ceremonial ritual known as the “Opening of the Mouth,” which involved using special tools to put honey into the mouth of a statue of a God, great noble, or the mummy of a priest. Another ritual in the Salt Magical Papyrus wrote that bees were made of the tears of Ra the Sun God, creator of the Earth and Sea.23 So bees must have been very important to the Ancient Egyptians, due to their association with Ra, a God often called “God of all Gods.”24
This is a scarab seal with the inscription, “Mayor, Chief Beekeeper, King’s Acquaintance Intef.” The fact that Chief Beekeeper Intef was an acquaintance of the King makes him an important person. Ancient Egyptians specialised in honey, so much so that they created a value system for it. “White” honey from the Delta was considered the most valuable, reserved for the Kings and temples. This virgin honey could only be extracted by the most experienced beekeepers. “Red” honey was brought from the desert expeditions from Northern Egypt, and was less valuable.25
The first documentary evidence of beekeeping is from the Anglo-Saxon period. The Anglo-Saxons believed that bees were winged messengers between worlds. Bees were not only a mythical figure to the Anglo-Saxons, as “Bees were of great benefit
23 “Tears of Re: Beekeeping in Ancient Egypt,” accessed at: apicultural.co.uk/tears-of-re-beekeeping-in-ancient-egypt.
24 “Deities in Ancient Egypt,” accessed at: egyptianmuseum.org/deities-ra#:~:text=Ra%20was%20the%20king%20of,as%20well%20as%20the%20day.
25 “Bees and beekeeping in Ancient Egypt (A historical study),” accessed at: jaauth.journals.ekb.eg/article_47990_882687660670d76346cdfda54f7b3e20.pdf.
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to the Anglo-Saxons: their honey was the chief ingredient in mead.”26 Mead is a form of alcohol that was drunk by the Anglo-Saxons. A famous example of the Anglo-Saxon relation to bees can be found in the poem: “Against a Swarm of Bees.” This poem was thought to have been a charm to bees. Clearly, the Anglo-Saxons viewed bees as a mythical/magical animal, one which must be charmed. Finally, the Anglo-Saxons saw the bee as something brave and fearless. This is due to the fact that “the man who guarded the castle gates was known as the Beoward.”27 “Beo” means “bee,” which therefore shows that since the Anglo-Saxons named their castle guard after a bee, they believed that bees were the symbol of bravery and fearlessness.
Bees play an important role in mythology, appearing as parental figures to the Gods, initially exhibited in a myth. This is a tale of when Kronos wanted to destroy Zeus, which led Zeus’s mother to smuggle him to a cave in Mount Dicte. Eating the honey from the sacred bees there, Zeus became a strong God, later rewarding the bees by making them gold in colour, signifying their importance to him.28 Furthermore, bees were of value to Zeus’s Roman equivalent: Jupiter. According to mythology, bees did not have a stinger on them at the beginning of time. They had no way of protecting their honey, leading the bees to Jupiter to ask for protection, while giving him honey. Jupiter loved it, therefore deciding to reward the bees. However, he didn’t want to create anything that could cause harm to humans, so he and the bees made a deal, that he would grant them a stinger, but they would die if they used it, meaning the bees have to make a decision.29 These two myths highlight how bees were consistently used as a symbol with regard to Zeus and Jupiter, meaning they played a large role in Greek and Roman societies.
Bees’ involvement in ma ers of wisdom, death, and metaphysical concepts of the body and the soul stands out in Celtic lore. Many believed bees were intermediaries between this world and the next, being the messengers between dead friends and
26 Witches & Pagans, “Against a Swarm of Bees,” Accessed at: witchesandpagans.com/paganstudies-blogs/history-witch/anglo-saxon-charm-for-bees.html on 26.09.22.
27 Druidry.org, “The Very British Beehive,” Accessed at: druidry.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/the-very-british-beehive.pdf on 27.09.22.
28 “The Sacred Bee: Ancient Greece and Rome,” Accessed at: planetbee.org/planet-bee-blog//the-sacred-bee-ancient-greece-and-rome on 27.09.22.
29
“Jupiter and the Bee,” Accessed at: rif.org/sites/default/files/documents/2018/04/18/Support_Materials/G2-Romulus-Remus-Medium.pdf on 25.9.22.
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relatives.30 When a family member died, someone would often inform the bees in a ritual-like process. The crime of stealing a beehive was actually a capital offence.31 Other unverified stories include the beginning of “telling the bees” originating from Celtic areas.32 Nevertheless, bee culture definitely shaped Celtic traditions through lore and metaphysical beliefs.
Napoleon chose to adopt the bee emblem instead of the traditional fleur-de-lys, quoting a story of Childeric’s (founder of the Merovingian Dynasty, 437–481 AD) tomb being filled with golden bees. Along with the spread eagle, the bee had been the symbol of Charlemagne.33 Some believed Napoleon's use of the bee was to gain legitimacy by associating with those dynasties. Enlisting the help of Jean-Baptiste Isabey, a more detailed design was put in use. Although it was never announced to be the symbol of the empire, the fact that the flag of Elba (Napoleon’s first location of exile) included bees reinforces how bees shaped Napoleon and his empire.34
Overall, the symbol of the bee has been used widely in history, for the purpose of representing industriousness, fearlessness, caring, protectiveness and wisdom. We can therefore see that bees have been adopted by all cultures mentioned, as good and powerful creatures. In conclusion, the symbol of the bee has been used in history to represent something mythical and powerful.
30 Beegood, the relationship between bees and messengers, Accessed at beegood.co.uk/blogs/news/29744001-the-tradition-of-telling-the-bees.
31 Owlcation, the crime of stealing a beehive owlcation.com/humanities/Celtic-Lore-of-the-Honey-Bee.
32Beepods, The Tradition of Telling the Bees, Accessed at: beepods.com/bee-folklore-for-dark-days/ on 27.09.22.
33 Napoleon.org, symbol of the empire, Accessed at napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/the-symbols-of-empire/ on 06/10/22.
34 Geriwalton, relationship between Napoleon and Bees on geriwalton.com/the-importance-of-bees-to-napoleon-bonaparte/ on 25.09.22
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Shakespeare’s use of bees as a symbol for human hierarchy in the History plays.
Beatrice
Cook, Jonathan Ford, Niamh Stafford, Arthur Yang
Shakespeare’s works adopted many motifs and metaphors. One that stands out particularly, however, Shakespeare’s peculiar usage of the unassuming bee as a consistent motif in two of his history plays. He uses the structure of the bee society reflect upon many different aspects the human society, including both stable and safe nature and its autocratic and authoritarian indifference to its people.
To infer why Shakespeare uses the bee as a symbol for human hierarchy we can examine his background, influences and the context of this usage in his plays.
Shakespeare’s knowledge of bees allowed him to write about bees with profound could begin with Shakespeare’s more working-class background, where he lived around farming communities. This would have made beekeeping something that he had grown up with, prompting him to use it as a metaphor in his work as it was so ingrained in his childhood. Yet, what is more interesting is the literature that would have inspired Shakespeare. Much of Shakespeare’s background and the context to his plays was reached through his personal reading and education (such as his utilisation of Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans to inform Julius Caesar).
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Throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, bees were crucial to everyday life. Due to the expense of sugar at the time, honey was often the alternative sweetener used in cooking. In addition, beeswax was utilised in more expensive candles of higher quality than the more commonly used ones made from tallow. During Shakespeare's time, many works depicting beekeeping and indeed portraying bees politically were widely available, such as Thomas Hyll’s A Profitable Instruction of the Perfite ordering of Bees. 35 In this work, Hyll clearly states that bees form a government which is based on “instinct of nature,” strikingly similar to Canterbury’s wish for the bee’s example to be followed “by a rule in nature” in Henry IV.36 Bees were therefore an intrinsic representation of some levels of the hierarchy and societal system at the time.
Shakespeare would also have been able to access classical works, such as those of Aristotle and Virgil, in which bees were used as political figures and metaphors. In Virgil’s Georgics Book IV, he uses bees as a symbol for belief in political rebirth and stability throughout generations, after the civil war that was ending around the time of writing. Virgil uses bees’ loyalty and joint ability to rebuild what is lost to display his hope that Rome, which, like the beehive, is a colony with a government-like structure at its centre, will do the same. We can see parallels with this in Shakespeare’s Henry V, where, much like in the Georgics, Book IV, the beehive and its values are used as a positive simile for society.37
Shakespeare was also influenced by the thoughts of Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, on bees. Aristotle was the first to accurately suggest the theory that the larva of the bees were reared inside the hexagonal shape of the honeycomb. He also was one of the first to practise taxonomy on bees and put them into three separate groups. However, despite the fact he was correct to believe there were such things as drones and worker bees, he believed that the head of the hive could not possibly be a queen, as queen bees could not possibly lead or influence an entire colony of bees simply because they were female.
35 Thomas Hylle, ‘The Profitable arte of gardening’, 1586. Accessed at rct.uk/collection/1057482/the-profitable -arte-of-gardening-to-this-is-annexed-the-marveilous-govermment, on 20.10.22.
36 R. Grinnell, ‘Shakespeare’s Keeping of Bees’, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, vol. 23 issue 4 (2016), pp. 835-854.
37 Virgil, ‘The Fighting Swans’, Virgil’s Georgics, Book IV (1632), pp. 67–102.
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In Henry V, bees are referenced throughout Act I, Scene 2, lines 191–212, as a simile for many separate members of society, and through that our society is likened to a beehive.
They have a king and officers of sorts; Where some, like magistrates, correct at home, Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad, Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, Make boot upon the summer’s velvet buds; Which pillage they with merry march bring home To the tent-royal of their emperor: Who, busied in his majesty, surveys
The singing masons building roofs of gold, The civil citizens kneading up the honey, The poor mechanic porters crowding in Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate, The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum, Delivering o’er to executors pale The lazy yawning drone.
Bees are presented in a positive manner and, in this extract, the Archbishop of Canterbury a empts to convince Henry of his right to invade France, with bees used as a metaphor for the English people supporting their country, just like bees supporting their hive.38 The hierarchy of bees is compared to the system of hierarchy in the army, led by the monarchy, with bees referred to as having “A king and officers of sorts, / Where some like magistrates correct at home.” Shakespeare uses bees here anthropomorphically to display the strong regimentation of society through the description of the “roles” and functions of bees within their colonies.
In contrast to Shakespeare’s positive description of bees and admiration for the well-disciplined and stable structure of their society in Henry V, he describes bees in a more negative fashion in Henry IV Part II. He references bees in this short extract:
“When, like the bee, tolling from every flower The virtuous sweets, Our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey, We bring it to the hive and, like the bees, Are murdered for our pains.”
38 Haylie Swenson, ‘The political insect: Bees as an early modern metaphor for human hierarchy’, 2020. Accessed at shakespeareandbeyond.folger.edu/2020/06/23/bees-metaphor-politics-hierarchy-wild-things/, on 13.09.22.
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The context of this extract is significant: Henry IV, weak and ill, has asked for his crown to be placed on a pillow beside him; he wakes up to find his crown missing, discovering that it was the prince his son (the future Henry V) who had taken the crown in presumption that he was dead. Henry IV says these lines in displeasure and dissatisfaction at his son’s behaviour and criticises him in an ironic way. He compares himself to a bee that has worked hard and “packed [himself] with wax” and “honey,” which are symbols for the power that he has acquired. “Hive” is a symbol for what he thinks is the source of his betrayal: not enemies outside but his family and his court.
Shakespeare found the bee society in great resemblance to that he was describing in Henry IV because the bees live in an equally totalitarian society where products of the labours of individuals are all a ributed to that of the one in power, whether that is the queen bee or Prince Hal. To conclude, Shakespeare was influenced both by his personal background and by authors before him to apply his detailed knowledge of bees to his depiction of human society. Shakespeare presents bees in his literature in both a negative and positive manner. He uses bees to represent the possible perfection of human society in Henry V. He also uses the darkness and cruel society of bees to portray the struggle for power in Henry IV. Finally, although we are now aware of the queen bee ruling the hive, it is interesting to note the automatic assumption (derived from Aristotle) in Shakespeare’s day of a king bee as the leader in the hive. Given that most of Shakespeare’s writing career took place in the time of a female monarch it leads us to ponder whether we might see a change in his usage of bees if he was aware of the existence of the queen bee’s rulership.
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The main challenges and rewards of the Nigerian honey-production economy, and the options open to the government to support producers through economic policy.
Viren Bhaika, Sudeep Miller, Abigail Schroeder, Evelyn Smethurst
Introduction
Bee-keeping has been conducted in Nigeria for the past 5000 years and so this makes it one of the earliest human domestications recorded in North West Africa. This essay will discuss its potential rewards and challenges, including the positive impact on the Nigerian economy, and the policies that might be employed to promote bee-keeping and help solve climate change, as well as providing an important multi-use product to the Nigerian people and the rest of the world: honey.
Global Honey Market Size and Competition
The global market for honey is substantial, estimated at £7.6bn in 2022, and is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.2% from 2022 to 2030 (Grand View Research). Not only is it a widely demanded food source, there is growing recognition of its anti-cholesterol, immunity, antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal medicinal properties, helping to spur demand.
Honey is widely consumed in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with more than 200 million people. While Nigeria consumes about 400,000 tonnes of honey annually, it produces less than 10 percent of its total consumption, which translates to net imports of more than £1.7bn annually Punch Nigeria).
China is the world’s largest honey producer and exporter, producing more than 450,000 metric tonnes in 2020,
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representing more than 25% of global production. Other major producers include Turkey, Iran, Argentina, Ukraine, and the US (Statista).
Nevertheless, there are major issues facing honey production, especially due to the global incidence of colony collapse disorder (CCD) over the last 20 years. In the US alone, from 1 April 2021 to 1 April 2022, beekeepers lost an estimated 39% of their managed honeybee colonies (Bee Informed). The root cause is multifactorial, with parasites and pathogens, poor nutrition, pesticide exposure, lack of genetic diversity, and habitat loss implicated. Global conflict (e.g. Ukraine) and trade sanctions are also likely to impact supply.
In developing countries, there are additional problems faced by producers including the lack skilled beekeepers, insufficient training in modern beekeeping practices, lack of financing and capital purchase proper equipment, scale of production, most significantly, the lack of the other components of the value chain including technical support professional beehive management and quality control, honey processing, packaging distribution.
Potential Benefits and Rewards of Bee-Keeping in Nigeria
There are many potential benefits to increasing bee-keeping in Nigeria, but the greatest potential arises from:
● Opportunity for stable business growth and improving the balance of payments
● Providing employment
● Lifting Nigerian people out of the poverty cycle
● Providing health benefits both from the intrinsic properties of honey, and from the investment in the health system that comes from a growing economy
● An eco-friendly way of creating a growing business
● Ecosystem Services - Pollination of other plants. The bee-keeping business currently generates between 200 to 240 million naira (£400,000 to £480,000) per 2,000 tons exported (Adediji & Omoba, 2016), thus
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making it a more stable and lucrative venture than fossil-fuel-based businesses In 2021, 2,560 metric tons were exported (Tridge.com, 2022), and that number is growing each year. As honey exports grow, the Nigerian balance of payments will improve, reducing reliance on oil and gas exports and prices, which are highly variable. Currently, more than 90% of total Nigerian exports and 60% of total capital inflows are dependent on oil and gas exports (Vanguard).
The average salary for a beekeeper in Nigeria is almost three times the average for a Nigerian worker if done well, demonstrating that there is strong financial incentive in the apicultural industry. Such income could benefit many people living below the poverty line, considering not many resources are needed for bee-keeping. (United Nations Social Development Network, 2016)
Bee-keeping is also projected to help Nigeria and the rest of the world through boosting economies and helping worldwide healthcare. Honey provides intrinsic health benefits (Nainu et al., 2021). Of all the honey produced in Nigeria, 76% is for commercial purposes like healthcare. Honey is popular with Western consumers because chemical compounds in honey can help treat different disorders (Nainu et al., 2021). If this business continues to grow in Nigeria, government revenues would increase, which could enable further investment in medical facilities, providing yet more health benefits to the Nigerian population.
The benefits of bee-keeping are not limited to health benefits. Pastor Dagunduro Gideon, the President of Grassroots Beekeepers in Nigeria, is quoted as saying: ”Besides profit, there are additional benefits you enjoy from engaging in beekeeping. Aside from ge ing honey from bees, numerous products can be extracted from bee products, which serves as raw materials used by giant companies to produce major products, which could include products such as natural wax.”
Bee-keeping is eco-friendly, providing an opportunity for Nigeria to grow their economy without harming the environment. Bees pollinate flowers which helps plant species grow. This helps new plants grow that will absorb carbon and give oxygen in the future which will help in the fight against climate change. Not only does bee farming help the ecosystem through pollination but also climate change by bringing about varied and larger numbers of plants. These are two net benefits with no environmental negatives in sight when it comes to bee-keeping.
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As Ademola Adesina, the chairman of the Nigerian Apiculture Platform, stated:
“A significant value in the chain is the pollination of crops it provides to the farm which leads to production of quality seeds and bountiful harvest. The pollination aspect is very crucial. In fact, 85 percent of pollination of crops is by the bees. So, that is why we cannot relegate the bees to the background. When you speak of agriculture, it is incomplete when you have not mentioned apiculture.” (Premium Times)
Current Challenges of Bee-Keeping in Nigeria
There are several challenges to bee-keeping in Nigeria, but the most significant ones are:
● Climate change, extreme climate events, habitat destruction
● Farmers using outdated techniques
● Economic instability
● Theft and vandalism.
Climate change makes keeping bees difficult as increased droughts and floods damage keepers’ lifestyles and harm their bees (Resource Centre – Bees For Development, 2016). It also destroys vital plants that bees need to pollinate, consequently disrupting their pollination habits. This makes it riskier for farmers to successfully keep bees, which may potentially lead to them losing their livelihoods.
Farmers currently use outdated techniques which are detrimental for bees and unnecessarily expensive. Farmers should use modern beekeeping techniques such as the Langstroth Technique, which involves separating boxes for different sects of bees to operate in their own way and a communal place to build the hive. This stands in opposition to traditional ones as the hives built are flimsy and cannot support a bee colony for long. Modern techniques allow beekeepers to check on their bees’ welfare and honey production be er than conventional ones, thus increasing efficiency.
Currently only 40% of Beekeepers in Nigeria use modern methods while 60% use traditional methods which contributes to poor health of their bees. This situation could be improved by promoting education.
Nigeria's economic instability also impedes the development of bee-keeping. Currently 33% of Nigeria's population live in extreme poverty. This represents 12.9% of the global population in extreme poverty (Oluwole, 2022), making it difficult for farmers to start their own businesses. For many, their only option is ge ing a loan.
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However, the criteria for a loan in Nigeria is unreachable for the majority, involving good credit scores and stable incomes which many cannot provide. The government solution for this is subsidising other businesses, particularly fossil-fuel-based businesses, that are detrimental to the environment.
Nigeria has experienced some particular issues with honey production, including theft from apiaries and acts of vandalism done to the apiaries (All Africa).
Economic Policies to Overcome the Challenges and Promote Bee-Keeping in Nigeria
In the previous section the main challenges to beekeeping were highlighted. This section summarises policies that might be employed to overcome these challenges.
Climate Change Mitigation could be promoted through taxing carbon emission vehicles and signing up to commitments (these could be ratified at conventions like the ongoing COP 27) to maintain and improve habitats and apicultural areas.
Educating farmers to use modern beekeeping techniques: Government policies should be enacted to promote education, training and upgrading of bee-keeping techniques. This could be delivered and expanded through Government operated schools, colleges and technical institutes. Research and development funding, to which Government is a major contributor, could be focused on the beekeeping and related industries.
Government is also in a position to provide technical support to enhance professional management and quality control. This will enhance production and provide higher quality standards, thereby enabling Nigeria to compete be er in the export market.
The Government should provide more accessible loans at low/nil interest rates to support the development of bee-keeping businesses. There is also the potential to
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support private micro-financing lenders to fund the domestic producers, through loan guarantees.
The Nigerian Government currently spends more than £1 billion per month in fuel subsidies for its citizens. There is li le reason why it could not subsidise the cost of the honey production industry in order to create a flourishing economic sector with positive economic, agricultural and health benefits and a growing export market. As part of this financial support, the Government should seriously consider providing funding support to the whole domestic value chain including honey processing, packaging and distribution capabilities. This will foster the whole industry and enable the country to capture all of the value, not just from the raw product.
Overall Conclusions
To conclude, through all the tumult and instability of the Nigerian Economy, bee-keeping has turned out to be a profession that is relatively stable and provides good business opportunities to competent producers. However, just as with every business venture, there are challenges as a part of this process. If supported by Government with financial, technical and research support, the Nigerian bee-keeping economy could turn out to be extremely profitable, leading to increased tax receipts for Government which in turn can be employed to fund critical physical and social infrastructure, amongst other benefits. Importantly, bee-keeping also fulfils another important role, that of pollination. As bee-keeping in Nigeria increases, the pollination capacity will increase, supporting agriculture and efforts to maintain natural habitats in Nigeria.
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How bees communicate through a 'dance' relative to the angle of the sun, and by buzzing to particular pitches, and the extent to which this behaviour functions as a language Robu-Malaure
throughout the ages various means of communication, whether it be or touch, chemicals However, there isn’t a number of animals that ay of communicating sophisticated and developed can be described as a language. Bees are one of the animals that can be extremely close to these boundaries, and as one of the most important animals in the survival of organisms all over the planet, it is vital that we understand the depth in the different means of communication of these wondrous creatures. From a linguistics point of view, we will look at the dance and sounds used by bees in communication, and decide whether they can be described as a language.
Bees have evolved exceptionally throughout time and have developed many advances, most remarkably their communication. Scientists studying bees across multiple continents have noticed common traits linking bee hives, which they have further studied as a form of communication. But what does this entail? The bees use the most complex “systems” known to man within the Insecta kingdom, being used to convey information within a hive. Many scientists have linked this to a dance, related to the way the bees will move around and “shake.” Worker bees returning from a successful foraging trip will gain a ention from other bees through creating a figure-of-8 loop, whereby the admirers will come within antenna’s reach, in order to sense the workers’ movements. It is discovered that the bees are communicating the
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distance, quality and direction of the food source through their varied pa erns, and that a long, slow dance means the food is far away, and of bad quality, but a short and fast dance is a good food source, close by. Finally comes the direction. As the bee is already creating 8-figure loops, it will now further move in a “wiggled” line between the two, where the angle they create off the vertical hive will be projected into the outside world - so that the vertical line is the direction to the sun. We know this works from the bees’ ability to sense polarised light within the hive, where the workers will have flown in light with vibrations limited to that one plane. It should be apparent that this behaviour is adaptive for gathering more resources and from optimal food sources, which is essential to the survival of the hive.
A bee’s main form of communication is sound, which enables them to produce either “buzzing” noises or vocal noises to interface with one another. The “buzzing” noise is made by either the movement of a bee’s wings or when they rapidly contract their muscles causing vibrations to resonate throughout the body. Sound can be generated during the “waggle dance” (used to tell nestmates the direction and distance of profitable flower patches); however, the primary way they use sound is through vibrations. This allows them to communicate via touch instead of sound. An example of a vibrational signal is the “stop signal.” Another bee will go up to a bee partaking in the waggle dance and “bu ” into them, causing the dancing bee to momentarily freeze. This form of communication is used to indicate that there is danger at the suggested food source, and the freezing of the dancing bee presents this to the other members of the hive.
Regarding vocal noises, bees partake in two main sounds, Hissing and Pipping. These are both meant to help a worker during different behavioural contexts such as a “swarm lift off”. An example of these vocal noises being used is when a colony is disturbed by either mechanical jolts or the presence of a potential predator, where a bee can use pipping to alert the hive. This triggers the simultaneous hissing of other bees within the colony resulting in a coordinated response. Overall, depending on
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the situation, bees use sounds such as buzzing and vocal noises to communicate with one another, especially in topics surrounding the entire hive.
Communication is the way in which we transfer information from one place to another. This can take up many different forms: speech, writing and signs. When speaking we can make sounds with our mouth, our lips, and our voice box (larynx). These sounds are frequencies with varying pitches. As we communicate, the packet of information which we send out needs to be understood by the receiving end; this happens when all parties know that a series of sounds make up said packet of information. This does not limit methods of communications such as sign language. Language is a system of communication; it is a combination of communication and syntax and grammar. In our world, communication most often comes as words, whereas syntax and grammar come as the order and the arrangement of the words. Syntax is the technical word for grammar, which is often equally necessary to give meaning to sentences and other structures. Without grammar or syntax, there is no actual way to distinguish the meaning between the sentences
a b c d e f and b f c a e d.
This is not found in bees and their method of communication can therefore not be considered a language as there is no syntax and no complexity; it is, however, an advanced form of communication.
The ways of communication in the society of a honey bee are very sophisticated compared to many other animals. However, despite its complexity, we have decided that the structure of their communication cannot be categorised as a language. The ways of communication in a hive are designed to be command words that have a fixed meaning. For example, the variables that decide each waggle dance of a worker bee always deliver a fixed information about a food source; the pitch of the hissing and pipping of a bee is designed to give off a fixed alarm. There is no syntax or grammar in the honey bees’ sounds and movements: bees cannot put their information into sentences by changing the amplitude, length or pitch of their buzzing
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as their system for communication is designed to be simple, fast and clear. Any a empts to do this would result in an individual confusing its hive. Without the fundamental rules for a categorised language (syntax and grammar), the honey bees will have to stick to their limited communications… for now.
References
Preece, K. et al., “Honeybee waggle dance error: adaption or constraint? Unravelling the complex dance language of honeybees.” Animal Behaviour, 94, 2016, pp. 19–26.
Charlo e Milner, “The Bee Book.” DK Children, 2018.
Evangelista, C. et al., “Honeybee navigation: critically examining the role of the polarization compass.” Phil. Trans. R. Soc., 369, 2014. h p://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0037
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The use of honey as an antimicrobial agent, and its role in modern medicine.
Maya Murfin, Steven Shen, Jonathan Song, Alice Whelan Abstract
Aside from the sweet taste we all know and love, honey has significant antimicrobial effects. Since ancient times, honey has been used for medicinal purposes such as wound dressing. The application and consumption of honey has more health benefits than previously thought. The antimicrobial properties of honey result from honey’s unique chemical composition and its subsequent effects. This article aims to explore how the chemical constituents of honey provide its antimicrobial properties, along with how honey has been used as a therapeutic in the past, present, and future.
Honey and its Chemical Build-up Natural honey contains over 200 substances, including amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. However, 99% of honey is water and sugars. The main carbohydrates that make up the biomass are fructose (32.52–38.2%) and glucose (28.54–31.3%), which represent more than 90% of the total sugars absorbed in digestion [1]. Other sugars are disaccharides such as sucrose. 4–5% of honey's biomass is fructooligosaccharides [1] (FOS), a type of prebiotic complex sugar that forms a chain of 2–60 fructose molecules bonded with a glucose molecule (Figure 1.1) [2]. FOSs ferment in the colon,39 stimulating the growth of bifidobacteria (a type of probiotic) inside the colon limiting the concentration of pathogenic bacteria [3].40
39 FOS, a prebiotic, is indigestible but is fermented easily by the indigenous bacteria groups in the colon.
40 Probiotics are microorganisms that inhibit pathogenic bacteria in the digestive system through a process called colonization resistance. Probiotics are also shown to increase enzyme activity during digestion.
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Honey has a high viscosity which varies largely with water concentration. Honey is described to be hygroscopic, which describes its capability of absorbing and retaining moisture from the environment [1].
The high sugar content in honey results in a relatively low water potential.41 The average water content of honey is around 17% [1], making it a hypertonic solution for most living organisms.42 When honey is diluted, the water causes the activation of the enzyme glucose oxidase. This catalyses the oxidation of glucose to gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) [4]. Organic acids such as gluconic acid make up 0.57% of honey [1] which then contributes to the acidity of honey which is around pH 3.2–4.5 [4]. When H2O2 reacts with metal ions, it releases free radicals such as Hydroxyl radicals which are oxidizing agents (see Figure 1.2) [5]. Hydrogen peroxide activity is controlled by catalase which catalyses the decomposition of H2O2 into water and oxygen [4].
Figure 2: Hydrogen peroxide reacting with iron cations producing hydroxyl radicals
41 Water potential is a measure of the number of free water molecules available in a solution which are free to diffuse by osmosis
42 When the surrounding solution has a lower water potential than inside the cells, which causes water to diffuse out of the cells through the process of osmosis.
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Honey and its antimicrobial properties
Life-threatening bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Escherichia coli (E. coli), Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), had their growths inhibited by different types of honey.
[4] Manuka Honey (L. scoparium) is especially effective.
Figure 3: How bacterial growth is affected by various types of honey The ZDI here is representative of the Zone of Direct Inhibition, which is a measure of how susceptible bacteria is to the antibacterial (to be exact, the radius in which the bacteria doesn’t grow around the antibiotic).
Honey has four different methods of killing bacteria [1]. Firstly, honey has high sugar content, so has a lower water potential compared to the surroundings of the bacteria, and will dehydrate its surroundings.43 The lack of water slows microbial growth because bacteria rely on osmosis to gain water.44 Secondly, honey is acidic.
Honey has a pH of around 3.2–4.5 [4],45 and this acidity causes the enzymes to
43 Water potential is a measure of the number of free water molecules available in a solution which are free to diffuse by osmosis. High water potential means more solutes are in the solution. Low water potential means that there are fewer solutes. Water statistically has a net movement from an area of high water potential to an area of low water potential.
44 If the water concentration of the environment becomes lower than inside the bacteria, water will move out of the bacterial cells via osmosis, or even start releasing water, and so it goes dormant, and may die.
45 Honey is characteristically acidic with pH between 3.2 and 4.5, which is low enough to be inhibitory to several bacterial pathogens.
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denature, such as Ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) [6].46 This slows or even halts bacterial life processes, such as respiration [7].47 Honeybees synthesize Glucose Oxidase and deposit it within honey, which creates Hydrogen Peroxide, a molecule that is damaging to any organism.48 Finally, non-peroxide chemical factors halt bacterial growth.
Figure 4: Glucose catalysing the oxidation of glucose to hydrogen peroxide and gluconic acid
Honey has been shown to produce free radicals. Free radicals are molecules that are readily reactive, easily giving or taking electrons due to unpaired electrons; damaging important molecules in the body, such as DNA and proteins [8]. The organism already has useful free radicals which are suppressed by equal amounts of antioxidants, which neutralize it. The mass of antioxidants and free radicals must be equal for the survival of any organism, but honey disrupts the balance as some honeys only donate free radicals.49 Hydrogen Peroxide can produce free radicals via reactions with metal ions. Free radicals are also able to steal electrons from other molecules, causing oxidized molecules to become free radicals. This causes a deadly chain reaction that can cause damage.
Uses of honey in ancient medicine
Honey has been used as an antimicrobial medicine for many years. The earliest records of honey being used by humans are cave paintings made 7,500 years ago depicting a person rope-climbing to collect honey [9]. In Ancient Egypt, honey was used as a common drug, in wound dressing [10] and contraception for women. Hippocrates believed honey could cure baldness, relieve colds and treat scars [11].50
46 For example, RNR (Ribonucleotide reductase), which synthesizes the precursors of DNA, is an important enzyme in bacteria. Its optimum pH is 7 to 8.
48 Hydrogen Peroxide causes poisoning via corrosive damage, oxygen gas formation and lipid peroxidation 47 It is harmful to both their survival and growth.
49 Particularly the types of honey which produce hydrogen peroxide tend to only produce free radicals and no antioxidants. Other types of honey which also give antioxidants after the free radicals are common, but only “quench” the damage done after the bacteria is damaged quite seriously.
50 An ancient Greek physician, also known as the father of medicine.
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Honey was also a crucial part of medicine in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Sources stated that honey could be used for a variety of ailments, including being a treatment for snakebites, a sobering agent, and a way to calm your stomach.51 John Hill advocated for honey to be used to prevent many disorders; particularly gravel, asthma, coughs, and hoarseness. He described how honey was vastly underrated by doctors of the time: “The slight regard paid at this time to the medicinal virtues of Honey, is an instance of the neglect men shew to common objects, whatever their value” [12].
Antibacterial activity of honey against bacteria causing life-threatening infection in humans
Honey has been gaining popularity in modern medicine as a treatment for ulcers and other skin infections which have developed from burns and wounds [13, 14]. Honey’s high viscosity creates a physical barrier against pathogens, preventing infection. As well as this, honey provides a moist, warm environment that aids healing [15]. Honey creates a liquid layer between the dressing and the wound. When changing the dressing, the newly-grown tissue won’t be damaged thus reducing healing time. Manuka honey, in particular, has been proven by scientists to be effective against several common pathogens including E. coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Salmonella typhimurium and S. aureus [15, 16], although these were tested in vitro methods (Figure 3).52
Honey can also prevent cardiovascular diseases due to raw honey containing large amounts of plant compounds known as flavonoids, which are antioxidants [21]. Regular intake of flavonoids decreases the risk of coronary heart disease and improves cardiac vasodilation and blood clo ing [22].53
Conclusion
Honey, with its complex sugars and slightly acidic nature, is a food that has been with humans since ancient times. Humans have used it for its benefits and taste for more than 7,500 years, and this historical use is justified. Honey’s effectiveness as an antimicrobial agent is mainly due to it containing Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) and free radicals, and to its acidity. Honey’s antimicrobial properties are clearly displayed by how bacteria such as E. coli react to its presence, all of which show that
51 The Feminine Monarchie by the Rev. Charles Butler (1623) and The Virtues of Honey by John Hill M.D (1759).
52 In vitro means tested outside a living organism and instead in an artificial environment, e.g. in a culture dish.
53 Dilation of the arteries and therefore improved blood flow.
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honey is an effective antimicrobial agent. Thus, it is often used in modern medicine, taking the role of being applied to the skin as an antibacterial agent, and having various benefits on health.
References
1. Eteraf-Oskouei T, Najafi M. “Traditional and modern uses of natural honey in human diseases: a review.” Iran J Basic Med Sci. 2013 Jun;16(6):731–42. PMID: 23997898; PMCID: PMC3758027.
2. Sabater-Molina M, Larqué E, Torrella F, Zamora S. “Dietary fructooligosaccharides and potential benefits on health.” J Physiol Biochem. 2009 Sep; 65(3):315–28. doi: 10.1007/BF03180584. PMID: 20119826.
3. Chow J. “Probiotics and prebiotics: A brief overview.” J Ren Nutr. 2002 Apr;12(2):76–86. doi: 10.1053/jren.2002.31759. PMID: 11953920.
4. Mandal MD, Mandal S. “Honey: its medicinal property and antibacterial activity.” Asian Pac J Trop Biomed. 2011 Apr;1(2):154–60. doi: 10.1016/S2221-1691(11)60016-6. PMID: 23569748; PMCID: PMC3609166
5. Phaniendra A, Jestadi DB, Periyasamy L. “Free radicals: properties, sources, targets, and their implication in various diseases.” Indian J Clin Biochem. 2015 Jan;30(1):11-26. doi: 10.1007/s12291-014-0446-0. Epub 2014 Jul 15. PMID: 25646037; PMCID: PMC4310837.
6. Loderer C, Holmfeldt K, Lundin D. “Non-host class II ribonucleotide reductase in Thermus viruses: sequence adaptation and host interaction.” PeerJ. 2019 Apr 8;7:e6700. doi: 10.7717/peerj.6700. PMID: 30993041; PMCID: PMC6459318.
7. Lund PA, De Biase D, Liran O, Scheler O, Mira NP, Cetecioglu Z, Fernández EN, Bover-Cid S, Hall R, Sauer M, O'Byrne C. “Understanding How Microorganisms Respond to Acid pH Is Central to Their Control and Successful Exploitation.” Front Microbiol. 2020 Sep 24;11:556140. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.556140. PMID: 33117305; PMCID: PMC7553086.
8. Ana Henriques, Simon Jackson, Rose Cooper, Neil Burton, “Free radical production and quenching in honeys with wound healing potential.” Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Volume 58, Issue 4, October 2006, Pages 773–777.
9. TRABAJOS DE PREHISTORIA 78, N.º 1, enero-junio 2021, pp. 164–178, ISSN: 0082-5638.
10. Zumla A, Lulat A. “Honey –a remedy rediscovered.” J Royal Soc Med. 1989;82:384–385.
11. Bansal V, Medhi B, Pandhi P. “Honey -A remedy rediscovered and its therapeutic utility.” Kathmandu Univ Med J. 2005;3:305–309
12. Quote taken from: The virtues of honey in preventing many of the worse disorders; particularly the gravel, asthmas, coughs, hoarseness and a tough morning phlegm by John Hill M.D (1759)
13. Cooper RA, Molan PC, Harding KG. “Honey and gram positive cocci of clinical significance in wounds.” J Appl Microbiol. 2002;93:857–863.
14. Cooper RA, Halas E, Molan PC. “The efficacy of honey in inhibiting strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from infected burns.” J Burn Care Rehabil. 2002;23:366–370.
15. Lusby PE, Coombes AL, Wilkinson JM. “Bactericidal activity of different honeys against pathogenic bacteria.” Arch Med Res. 2005;36:464–467.
16. Visavadia BG, Honeyse J, Danford MH. “Manuka honey dressing: An effective treatment for chronic wound infections.” Br J Maxillofac Surg. 2006;44:38–41.
17. Taormina PJ, Niemira BA, Beuchat LR. “Inhibitory activity of honey against foodborne pathogens as influenced by the presence of hydrogen peroxide and level of antioxidant power.” Int J Food Microbiol. 2001;69:217–225.
18. Chauhan A, Pandey V, Chacko KM, Khandal RK. “Antibacterial activity of raw and processed honey.” Electron J Biol. 2010;5:58–66.
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19. Sherlock O, Dolan A, Athman R, Power A, Gethin G, Cowman S, et al. “Comparison of the antimicrobial activity of ulmo honey from Chile and manuka honey against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.” BMC Complement Alternat Med. 2010;10:47.
20. Mulu A, Tessema B, Derbie F. “In vitro assessment of the antimicrobial potential of honey on common human pathogens.” Ethiop J Health Dev. 2004;18:107–112.
21. Blassa M, Candracci M, Accorsi A, Piacentini MP, Albertini M C, Pia i E. “Raw millefiori honey is packed full of antioxidants.” Food Chem. 2006;97:217–222.
22. Khalil MI, Sulaiman SA. “The potential role of honey and its polyphenols in preventing heart diseases: a review.” Afr J Tradit Complement Altern Med . 2010;7:315–321.
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The compositional devices deployed by Rimsky-Korsakov to make “Flight of the Bumblebee” sound like a bee, and why certain musical sounds evoke bees in the human imagination.
Georgia Cook, Harriet Earle, Ben Shailer, Richard Zhao
“Flight of the Bumblebee” by Rimsky-Korsakov is easily one of the most recognisable pieces of classical music, infamous for the speed that the notes are played, creating the convincing sound of a buzzing bumblebee. The piece originally wri orchestral interlude for the The Tale of Tsar Saltan and has since been arranged most notably into piano by Rachmaninoff but also for the violin, flute and many other instruments.
French entomologists Antoine Magnan and André Saint-Laguë asserted in their 1934 publication
Vol des Insectes that according to some rough calculations, bumblebees should not be able to fly.54 Of course, Magnan and Saint-Laguë were wrong in their calculations due to the assumption of a fixed-wing aerodynamic flight system when bees fly, when instead bees simultaneously flap and rotate their wings, which leads us to more complicated aerodynamics and fluid dynamics unknown at the time.55
The sound that humans hear to be the buzzing as a bee flies is detected through high-frequency vibrations of air molecules onto the eardrum caused by the beating of a bee’s wing at approximately 230 Hz.56 Like many insects, bees’ wings are a ached to the thorax and are not a ached directly to muscles, instead being pulled
54 B. Kirkpatrick et al., “Honey Bee Flight: An Inquiry,” University of Colorado Boulder, 2015.
55D.L. Altshuler, et al., “Short-amplitude high-frequency wing strokes determine the aerodynamics of honeybee flight,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102(50), 2005, pp. 18213–18218.
56Altshuler et al., 2005.
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by the contraction of dorsoventral muscles and dorsal-longitudinal muscles inside the thorax, making the wings both flap and rotate (Fig. 1). These muscles can contract multiple times from a single nerve impulse, and ultimately beat at more than 200 times a second.
Fig. 1. Contraction of dorsoventral and dorsal-longitudinal muscles in the bee’s thorax moves the wings in their flap and rotation.
Fig 2 Diagram showing the non-linear plane of wing movement of a bee However, a key aspect of the bee’s flight is that at such a small size, the Reynolds number associated with their flight, approximated to be about 1123, puts them in the region where the fluid air around them is considered to be laminar and acts with high viscosity.57 This means that the forces exerted by the wings are much greater than previously anticipated, affecting airflow and lift in ways unbeknownst to Magnan and Saint-Laguë in 1934. With this in mind, the oscillation cycle of the wings at a high angle of a ack creates a dynamic stall above the wings, which in turn leads to the formation of a leading edge vortex where there is significantly
57 H. Aono and H. Liu, “Flapping wing aerodynamics of a numerical biological flyer model in hovering flight,” Computers and Fluids Vol 85, 2013, pp. 85–92.
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lower pressure than the surrounding air, generating the lift required to keep the bee hovering.58
However, the real issue of this question is how humans process sound and music; whilst Korsakov’s piece is not intended to perfectly mimic the sound of a bee’s flight, it still invokes the memory of a bee within the listener. Therefore, we need to investigate which parts of music correlate the most to memories within a listener: in a study published in 2008 by the Journal of Experimental Psychology, tempo was shown to have a sufficient impact on how music interacts with our memory.59 Specifically, when a piece was implicitly heard (i.e. not actively tried to be memorised), the tempo of a piece was shown to have a significant positive impact on its ability to be recalled, and more importantly, related to other pieces of music. However, a key distinction here is between the real tempo of the piece, and its heard tempo: with relation to the piece, the tempo is distinct (compared to other pieces of music) as the lack of emphasis on particular beats (with exception for the first of every measure), causes the “tempo” to be heard instead by the rate at which the dissonance builds in the perception of the listener. Whilst the average pitch of a bee’s flight is 230 Hz, translating to a Bb (+ 23 cents), this pitch oscillates over the course of a bee’s flight, lower when they take off and land;60 in turn, the dissonances which Korsakov builds, using Bb chromatics, allow him to combine tempo and timbre, which were seen as the two most influential aspects of recalling memories of sound. And so one way in which “Flight of the Bumblebee” a empts to capture the feeling of a real bee is by imitating the tempo of a bee’s flight. frantic pace of the storyline, through its sense of direction and the ever-increasing speed of notes. It builds
58 J. Vance et al., “Hovering Flight in the Honeybee Apis mellifera: Kinematic Mechanisms for Varying Aerodynamic Forces.”
59 A. Halpern and D. Müllensiefen, “Effects of timbre and tempo change on memory for music,” Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61 (9), 2008, pp. 1371–1384.
60 phys.unsw.edu.au/music/note/ [accessed 07/11/2022].
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tension as the bee is travelling towards the kingdom. The piece is played at 200 bpm and although the tempo does not actually change, shorter notes are added to create a frantic feeling. Finally, when the bee reaches its destination, the piece comes to a climax. Another way in which Korsakov a empts to imitate the sound of a genuine bee is that the main melody of “Flight of the Bumblebee” was wri en to be played by violins. Korsakov made this choice as violins are string instruments therefore the strings vibrating imitate the vibrating wings of real bees in flight. Furthermore, violins play in a higher register than most instruments, which adds to the energetic and excitable sound that bees create.
Fig. 3. A section of the melody in The Flight of the Bumblebee, played by a violin. The above extract shows a short part of the violin solo that takes the lead throughout the piece and creates the main melody. As can be seen, all the notes are slurred and no notes are given any particular accent. Therefore, even though there are many fast-changing notes, they almost join together and sound like one continuous hum. This imitates the continuous drone that is heard when a bumblebee is buzzing as they make lots of miniature very quick sounds that blur together to sound like one. Chromaticism further emulates the tiny microdecisions made by bees.
Furthermore, Korsakov builds dissonance with the objective of matching the memorable aspect of the bee’s flight – by stacking semitone dissonances that rotate around different bases of keys (technically a modulation every time the root of the chromatic shifts, with Korsakov tending towards a darker route around the circle of fifths) Korsakov helps to mimic the unique dissonance of a bee’s flight. This relates to the way a bee “swims” through the air and the vortex which the wing strokes create, as mentioned above – it stacks sound waves
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through the air, with overlapping vibrating air particles, creating similar dissonance semitones apart (as in the chromatics used by Korsakov) with the larger changes and explorations of different keys caused by the lower frequencies as the bee is taking off/landing. Finally, with the tempo of the piece being the rate at which these semitonal dissonances build, Korsakov mimics a bee’s flight through manipulations of its most memorable and important aspect, its dissonance.
In “Flight of the Bumblebee,” Rimsky-Korsakov uses techniques and instruments to imitate the sound and feel of a buzzing bee. He achieved this, as the tempo and continuous drone of the piece are distinctly reminiscent of bumblebees. This has given “Flight of the Bumblebee” a place in popular culture, as sports teams, television shows, and more have used it for bee mascots. Rimsky-Korsakov was very successful in making “Flight of the Bumblebee” remind the audience of a bee, so much that it has flourished in the modern day.
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"The best aspect was the intense collaboration."
What were the best aspects of the Symposium?
"I liked picking apart tricky information and developing my understanding."
"The online meetings were fun and effective."
"I really enjoyed the dinner aspect as it was a more relaxed environment (we had all finished the speeches) and so we could get to know each other."
"The teachers made it all seamless and enjoyable."
"I liked that we worked in a small group rather than in pairs."
"Learning about something outside of my comfort zone."
What is the most important thing you feel you have learned?
"How to work together properly!"
"A lot of new content which I don't think I would have ever learnt."
"How to write a proper academic paper and find and cite reliable sources."
"Confidence in the public speaking aspect."
"Although 1000 words felt very li le to work with, I learned to be more concise and remove any unnecessary information."
How could we improve the experience for future years?
"The swarm of people having conversations at dinner was great, although all the cha ing resulted in lots of uneaten bee-themed cupcakes."
"Please increase the word count: we had to cut off 2000 words of content!"
"We should have been warned about the number of bee puns."
Can you suggest a topic area for next year?
"How the 20th century became the century of change."
"Discovery, from Space Exploration to finding new elements."
"Ethics? Like the ethics of money and space biology."
"Power (all definitions included)."
Student Feedback
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Feedback on presentations from audience members
"Good to see Georgics discussed."
"Brilliant responses to questions asked."
"Clear and succinct presentations, good team work and strong grasp of the subject."
