Scientists in Germany and New Zealand have found a link between the honey bee and human brains, which could lead to a better understanding of brain functions.
The team from the University of Heidelberg, and the University of Otago, New Zealand, stimulated bees with odours, while microscopic electrodes recorded their brain activity.
The results revealed that both humans and bee brains generate alpha oscillations - the cyclic patterns of electrical activity brain cells generate - and can associate smells, such as with food, in a similar ways.
This could also lead on to studies on activities of the brain such as attention, memory and consciousness.