Welcome to the Quanta Science podcast.

Each episode, we bring you stories about developments in science and mathematics.

I'm Susan Vallett.

A group of prominent biologists and philosophers announced a new consensus.

There's a realistic possibility that insects, octopuses,

crustaceans, fish, and other overlooked animals experience consciousness. That's next.

It's season three of the joy of why, and I still have a lot of questions. Like, what is this thing we call time? Why does altruism exist? And where is Jan 11? I'm here. Astrophysicist and co-host. Ready for anything. That's right. I'm bringing in the A team. So brace yourselves. Get ready to learn. I'm Jan 11. I'm Steve Strogatz. And this is Quantum Magazine's

podcast, The Joy of Why. New episodes drop every other Thursday.

In 2022, researchers at the bee sensory and behavioral ecology lab at Queen Mary University of London

observed bumblebees doing something remarkable. The diminutive fuzzy creatures were engaging in

activity that could only be described as play. Given small wooden balls, the bees pushed them

around and rotated them. The behavior had no obvious

connection to mating or survival, nor was it rewarded by the scientists. It was, apparently, just for fun.

The study on playful bees is part of a body of research that a group of prominent scholars of

animal minds cite, buttressing a recent declaration that

extends scientific support for consciousness to a wider suite of animals than has been formally

acknowledged before. For decades, there's been a broad agreement among scientists that animals

similar to us, the great apes, for example, have conscious experience,

even if their consciousness differs from our own. But in recent years, researchers have begun

to acknowledge that consciousness may also be widespread among animals that are very different

from us, including invertebrates with completely different and far simpler nervous

systems. The April of 2024 declaration, signed by biologists and philosophers, formally

...