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Curiosity Weekly

Defending Against “Murder Hornets” with Bee Balls, Aphantasia and the Two Extremes of the “Mind’s Eye,” and Venus’s Freaky-Fast Atmosphere

Curiosity Weekly

Warner Bros. Discovery

Science

4.6964 Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2020

⏱️ 12 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Learn about the surprising way Japanese honeybees defend themselves against "murder hornets" (actual name: Asian giant hornets); how “atmospheric tidal waves” make Venus’s atmosphere rotate faster than the actual planet; and the wide spectrum of how people mentally visualize images, including aphantasia and hyperphantasia.

Japanese honeybees defend against 'murder hornets' by forming bee balls by Cameron Duke

Venus's atmosphere rotates 60 times faster than the planet because of "atmospheric tidal waves" by Grant Currin

The two extremes of the "mind's eye": aphantasia and hyperphantasia by Kelsey Donk

Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY

 

Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/defending-against-murder-hornets-with-bee-balls-aphantasia-and-the-two-extremes-of-the-minds-eye-and-venuss-freaky-fast-atmosphere


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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Curiosity.com.

0:06.3

I'm Cody Gough.

0:07.3

And I'm Ashley Hamer.

0:08.4

Today you learn about the surprising way Japanese honeybees defend themselves against

0:12.4

murder hornets, how atmospheric Japanese wide spectrum of how people mentally visualize images.

0:24.0

Let's satisfy some curiosity.

0:26.0

If you live in North America, you might be aware of the hype and fear surrounding the recent arrival of the Asian giant Hornet, you know, the murder Hornet.

0:37.4

It's not a big threat to humans, although the species is responsible for up to 50 deaths per year in their native Japan.

0:45.0

The real threat they pose is to honey bees.

0:48.0

Luckily, one species of honeybee has evolved a pretty impressive defense system against them impressive and

0:54.9

extremely violent so fair warning that this story is going to describe some

1:01.2

serious insect carnage now when the agent giant hornet happens upon a honeybee

1:06.2

nest, things get real ugly real fast. The hornets start with what's called the slaughter phase where they use their massive

1:14.8

mandibles to decapitate the worker bees one by one. Once they've killed off the nest's defenses,

1:21.7

they move in, chowing down on the honeybee pupae and larvae.

1:26.3

Obviously this causes serious damage to honeybee colonies, but Japanese honeybees have co-evolved with these wasps to defend themselves.

1:35.9

When a scout from a Hornet colony encounters a Japanese honeybee nest,

1:40.0

they rarely have a chance to send word back to their colony.

1:43.4

And that's because these honeybees immediately surround that wasp

1:47.2

to create a literal bee ball.

1:50.0

They don't sting the hornet because it has too much armor for that.

1:53.7

Instead, the hundreds of bees piled on the lone hornet begin batting their wings back and forth.

...

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