Ballroom Biology Recent Insights Into Honey Bee Waggle Dance Communications

The honey bee waggle dance communication is a complex, unique, at times controversial, and ultimately fascinating behavior. In an elaborate figure-of-eight movement, a returning forager conveys the distance and direction from the hive to resources, usually the nectar and pollen that is their food, and it remains one of the most sophisticated, known forms of non-human communication. Not surprisingly, since its discovery more than 60 years ago by Karl von Frisch, the dance has been subject to investigations that span from basic biology through human culture and neurophysiology to landscape ecology. Here we collate recent advances in our understanding of the dance.

A groundbreaking account of the origin and place of meaning in the earthly biosphere What is meaning? How does it arise? Where is it found in the world? In recent years, philosophers and scientists have answered these questions in different ways. Some see meaning as a uniquely human achievement, others extend it to trees, microbes, and even to the bonding of DNA and RNA molecules. In this groundbreaking book, Gary Tomlinson defines a middle path. Combining emergent thinking about evolution, new research on animal behaviors, and theories of information and signs, he tracks meaning far out into the animal world. At the same time he discerns limits to its scope and identifies innumerable life forms, including many animals and all other organisms, that make no meanings at all. Tomlinson’s map of meaning starts from signs, the fundamental units of reference or aboutness. Where signs are at work they shape meaning-laden lifeways, offering possibilities for distinctive organism/niche interactions and sometimes leading to technology and culture. The emergence of meaning does not, however, monopolize complexity in the living world. Countless organisms generate awe-inspiring behavioral intricacies without meaning. The Machines of Evolution and the Scope of Meaning offers a revaluation of both meaning and meaninglessness, uncovering a foundational difference in animal solutions to the hard problem of life.

The journey towards morality in nature can be seen through the million-year-old relationship of the flowering plant and honeybee social group. Flowers and Honeybees brings what science has learned into a dialog with the philosophy of morality.

An amazing journey into the hidden realm of nature’s sounds The natural world teems with remarkable conversations, many beyond human hearing range. Scientists are using groundbreaking digital technologies to uncover these astonishing sounds, revealing vibrant communication among our fellow creatures across the Tree of Life. At once meditative and scientific, The Sounds of Life shares fascinating and surprising stories of nonhuman sound, interweaving insights from technological innovation and traditional knowledge. We meet scientists using sound to protect and regenerate endangered species from the Great Barrier Reef to the Arctic and the Amazon. We discover the shocking impacts of noise pollution on both animals and plants. We learn how artificial intelligence can decode nonhuman sounds, and meet the researchers building dictionaries in East African Elephant and Sperm Whalish. At the frontiers of innovation, we explore digitally mediated dialogues with bats and honeybees. Technology often distracts us from nature, but what if it could reconnect us instead? The Sounds of Life offers hope for environmental conservation and affirms humanity’s relationship with nature in the digital age. After learning about the unsuspected wonders of nature’s sounds, we will never see walks outdoors in the same way again.

Ecocriticism has grown into one of the most innovative and urgent fields of the humanities, and many useful ecocritical approaches for addressing our environmental crisis have been developed, discussed, and reconsidered during the last decade. From various perspectives, ecocriticism both adopts and criticizes traditional analytical and theoretical models, resulting in an impressive methodological diversity, pushing the boundaries of the humanities. Contemporary Ecocritical Methods exemplifies this methodological variety and serves as a practical entry into the field. Fourteen chapters, written by scholars from various ecocritical sub-fields of environmental humanities, introduce a rich set of perspectives and their analytical tools.

Understanding how chemical signals cause specific changes in behavior, and how these behavioral responses are modulated (possibly due to modifications to the complexity of the signal, how it is detected and/or processed by the olfactory system, and how distinct physiological states of the receiver may impact receptivity to a signal) remain outstanding questions in the fields of chemical ecology and neuroethology. Here I employed comparative studies in honey bees, and primarily utilized drones, to gain new insights into the mechanisms that underlie odor-mediated behavior in this eusocial insect.We have identified that the mechanisms driving maturation-related differences in behavioral receptivity to the queen are likely based in the central brain, not in the peripheral nervous system. This is in contrast with sex-associated differences in response to the queen, which appear to have a significant basis in the periphery (Chapter 2). In Chapter 3, we tested the theory that social pheromones may have evolved from sex pheromones. Our findings on the sex and social pheromone 9-ODA did not support this theory, as we found that the pathways in which 9-ODA affect worker and drone physiology and behavior are likely shared. In testing this theory we also identify a new primer pheromone in honey bees that affects males, a relatively rare biological phenomenon. Pheromone communication in honey bees regulates the social environment and is based on the complexity of the pheromone signal and differential processing based on the receivers caste and physiological state. Pheromone profile shifts in response to changes in the queen reproductive physiology further modulate social responses in workers. In Chapter 4 we demonstrate that drones are also receptive to these changes and propose that this may be a mechanism driving drone-queen interactions in and out of the colony. In Chapter 5, we identify the compounds produced in the drone mandibular gland and confirm their biological activity. This is a critical first step in understanding how drones are navigating their social environment.In considering these findings, multiple significant conclusions emerge. First, drones are engaging in their social environment through a more complex chemical communication system than the research community has previously anticipated. Drones are receptive to the same pheromones as workers and are able to respond accordingly to different aspects of pheromone complexity (compounds, blend specificity, and now, profile shifts). Furthermore, they may also be producing their own pheromones, elaborating on the already complex communication system of honey bees. Going forward, drones are likely to prove their value as a resource in advancing our understanding of social behavior and its underlying odor-mediated mechanisms.

The diary and essays of Brian Eno republished twenty-five years on with a new introduction by the artist in a beautiful hardback edition.'One of the seminal books about music . . . an invaluable insight into the mind and working practices of one of the industry's undeniable geniuses.'GUARDIANAt the end of 1994, Brian Eno resolved to keep a diary. His plans to go to the cinema, theatre and galleries fell quickly to the wayside. What he did do - and write - however, was astonishing: ruminations on his collaborative work with David Bowie, U2, James and Jah Wobble, interspersed with correspondence and essays dating back to 1978. These 'appendices' covered topics from the generative and ambient music Eno pioneered to what he believed the role of an artist and their art to be, alongside adroit commentary on quotidian tribulations and happenings around the world.This beautiful 25th-anniversary hardcover edition has been redesigned in the same size as the diary that eventually became this book. It features two ribbons, pink paper delineating the appendices (matching the original edition) and a two-tone paper-over-board cover, which pays homage to the original design.An intimate insight into one of the most influential creative artists of our time, A Year with Swollen Appendices is an essential classic.

Teleosemantics seeks to explain meaning and other intentional phenomena in terms of their function in the life of the species. This volume of new essays from an impressive line-up of well-known contributors offers a valuable summary of the current state of the teleosemantics debate.

Design and build cutting-edge video games with help from video game expert Scott Rogers! If you want to design and build cutting-edge video games but aren’t sure where to start, then this is the book for you. Written by leading video game expert Scott Rogers, who has designed the hits Pac Man World, Maxim vs. Army of Zin, and SpongeBob Squarepants, this book is full of Rogers's wit and imaginative style that demonstrates everything you need to know about designing great video games. Features an approachable writing style that considers game designers from all levels of expertise and experience Covers the entire video game creation process, including developing marketable ideas, understanding what gamers want, working with player actions, and more Offers techniques for creating non-human characters and using the camera as a character Shares helpful insight on the business of design and how to create design documents So, put your game face on and start creating memorable, creative, and unique video games with this book!