Bee's Tiny Brain Beats Computers at Complex Math Problem

Bees somehow figure out how to fly the shortest route between flowers. They don't know it, but they are solving the complex "Traveling Salesman Problem," which seeks the most efficient path (least total distance) a salesman can take through x number of cities.

Despite having a brain the size of a pinhead and a small number of neurons, bees can find the shortest distance between flowers, even if the order is changed, according to researchers at Queen Mary, University of London and Royal Holloway, University of London. The researchers hope that the study of the bee brain leads to understanding how complex problems, such as making information and traffic flow more efficient, can be solved with minimal neural circuitry, or compute power.

Prof. G.Srinivasan, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, explains the 'Traveling Salesman Problem'