7 fascinating science facts

Scientists have recently discovered that bees who were given caffeinated sugar water performed their duties more quickly. Scientists think the caffeine could improve their motor skills, allowing them to zip between flowers quicker.

Caffeine is naturally found in flowers, although in smaller amounts than what researchers gave bees to test the effects. To test this theory, researchers set up a room full of fake flowers which smelled like different types of flowers that bees would be attracted to in real life.

They had three groups of bees: The first group (the control group) was given only sugar water to start. The second group was given sugar water and was introduced to the scent of strawberry flowers. The third group was given sugar water, the scent of strawberry flowers and caffeine. The two groups which were introduced to the scent of the strawberry flower sought out the fake strawberry flowers that the scientists had set up. And of those two groups, the caffeinated bees flew to the strawberry flowers more often than the non-caffeinated ones. This indicates that the caffeine helped them to remember the scent better and improve their productivity and focus. This discovery is useful for farmers, who may be able to caffeinate their honeybees to make them more productive.

Scientists have created tiny living robots out of frog cells called xenobots. Xenobots can swim, self-repair and even move particles around. They could potentially be used to clean up pollution or deliver drugs to specific parts of the body. A xenobot’s lifespan is about two weeks, after which time it dissolves. This means no waste left over after their useful lifespan. 

They can also be ‘programmed’ to flock to certain colours of light, which makes it useful to gather them together for collection. Scientists are also able to tell what the xenobots are up to without needing to monitor them. They do this by setting up checkpoints of different coloured light, which when passed through by a xenobot causes a chemical reaction within the xenobot which can be detected by the scientists’ sensors. Scientists can check the readings from these sensors at a later date and know where the xenobots went in their absence.

There are different theories about why dogs tilt their heads when hearing certain words. One idea is that dogs are processing familiar words. For example, when they hear the familiar word ‘walk’ or ‘treat’, they know it corresponds with something positive (the walk or the treat), and so they pay special attention to the word. They do not understand the exact situation or why the word is being said at a specific moment, and so they concentrate harder (as evidenced by tilting their head) so they can try to gain more clues about the current situation. Their owner could indeed be using the word to indicate the dog is shortly about to receive a benefit, or the word could have no potential for action and could be used just in passing conversation (or the dog may have misheard the word).

Another theory is that the tilting of the head has been developed as a social cue. People like it when dogs tilt their heads - they find it cute and appealing, and so it benefits the dog to repeat the action. The tilting of the head could improve the dog’s chances of receiving a benefit. For example, a dog who tilts his head at a trigger word could be more likely to receive the benefit, persuading the owner with its cuteness. If the owner says ‘treat’ and the dog is indifferent or there is no excitable reaction in the dog, the owner would be less motivated to actually give the treat to the dog.

It has also been speculated that dogs have preferred or a more efficient ear. So, a dog may tilt his head to one side or the other because whichever side may allow him to hear the word better.