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100LittleButterflies t1_iu7d338 wrote

...... How was this discovered?

"Hey, I know we're supposed to be studying honey bee pollination techniques, but LOOK AT THIS!"

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MakashiBlade t1_iu7x3bf wrote

Someone was eating a bowl of crunchberries at the lab one day and spilled. The bees were thought to have been attracted to the sugar until they started a game of dodgeball.

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mrgumble t1_iu8cmvi wrote

Not impossible. Some of the best science appears due to accidents.

Mandatory mention of Penicillin: discovered when the researcher forgot to close a window, and mold spores landed on Petri dishes, and bacteria subsequent didn't grow close to the mold.

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MakashiBlade t1_iu8yfuc wrote

Very interesting! I had no idea

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mrgumble t1_iu90tna wrote

Also check the Ig Nobel prizes for research that sounds stupid, but turns out really interesting.

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Qwearman t1_iu8rx8w wrote

There was one time where they were studying if you could train bees to do things. Bee Soccer was the thing I first thought of when I saw this.

The cool thing is that if they’re playing, that means they’re not mindless drones going about their day. I always figured insects in particular were just doing what their nature told them to do, like how butterflies have a “genetic memory” so strong that migratory butterflies go around a mountain that doesn’t exist anymore (due to mining/construction)

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