How Bees Can See the Invisible

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Bees see the world in some very interesting ways
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To begin this video, we launched a little confetti to celebrate the fact that I am now "Dr. Joe", since I successfully defended my Ph.D. in molecular biology! Woo! But you don't have to call me "Doctor."
Anyway, spring is in the air!! We're all thawing out from winter's chill, and for bees and flowers this season is about one thing: Feeding and fertilizing. Bees are amazing social insects, and their relationship with flowers is one of nature's coolest examples of "mutualism". It got me wondering: How do bees see the world? Enjoy this look at how bees see in ultraviolet and even sense electric fields!
References for this episode: dft.ba/-5Am1
Written and hosted by Joe Hanson
Produced by Painted On Productions (www.paintedon.com/)
Clips used:
Louie Schwartzberg - The hidden beauty of pollination vimeo.com/27328081
Jay Woo - October 1st vimeo.com/50513099
Music: Edvard Grieg "Morning Mood"
Special thanks to Klaus Schmitt for allowing us to use his awesome UV flower photos: All images used © Dr Schmitt, Weinheim Germany, uvir.eu
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[@robinchesterfield42]

There is some seriously GORGEOUS photography in this episode. I especially like how sometimes you can see the entire reflection of a flower inside just one dewdrop. Wow.

[@besmart]

My leather chair smells of rich mahogany.

[@maungline6201]

my one is smelly

[@gabrielRcorrea3]

I almost heard: "as always, thanks for watching"

[@Roxor128]

Seen a fair bit of Vsauce, huh?

[@leesnyder3474]

Yep

[@mustafamotiwala2335]

I'm not kidding, I actually heard as always, thanks for watching. I didn't even notice it until I read this comment.

[@franqueto8727]

MALDONADO APARECE GATO

[@niniv2706]

Michael is not nearly religious as the Hanson Bros are ... I despise their smug attitude when facing religious ideologies head on . There is no god and the non-overlapping magisteria Bullshit is just that ... Bullshit . Respect is owed to human beings, not the ideas that pollute their brains . The Hansons have extended respect to religious ideologies too many times . Evolution is an unguided process and purpose non-existent . Good clip today, though .

[@besmart]

We evolved to see the "visible" range because that happens to be what the atmosphere lets through (plus a little UV and IR, but not much). If there was different light coming in, we'd probably have evolved different eyes. And it's impossible to imagine what that would look like. Just like to see what a blind person sees is to see what we see out of our elbow.

[@Dragon-Slay3r]

VR hajj already been deployed

[@besmart]

I'll double-check with my parents, but I am prettttty sure that's a no. Although they would make very cool brothers.

[@nicsfunwithbees703]

You know you've reached beekeeper status when you can see mites on the bees in a PBS video. Hint it's at 55 seconds in.

[@Karina-qg6bl]

what do they look like? 👀

[@diazbraulioo]

Yeah, I knew we couldn't imagine it ourselves but I maybe thought we had developed special cameras or cool filters that allowed us to see in different wavelengths. Thank you for getting back to me! Keep the videos coming, man.

[@janedance5583]

Exceptional upclose video of bees. I was amazed!

[@FeedingWolves]

This video was amazing. The shots of the flowers and bees were beyond beautiful, they almost looked like out of a pixar movie.

[@whiterottenrabbit]

Dude, I love the fact that unlike many people from other channels, you're not talking in a super fast speed, don't use jumpcuts every three seconds and most importantly: you're not trying to be deliberately super cool and totally funny too hard. Screw the SciShow and Crash Course, I am subscribing to YOU!

[@leahpia2324]

I loved this!!!! Thank you for teaching this. I loved watching it.

[@olivialenz1956]

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PHD! (I'm in the middle of mine, in MSE, so I can only imagine how awesome it feels to be done!)

[@jiyamerritt658]

thank you so much, makes so much sense ..... big chunk of my puzzle your presentations are really good keep up the good work xx cheers

[@WarPig42]

Congrats on your Ph.D.! Keep these videos coming :D

[@sashawestwood4442]

Awesome love this. Feel like we are just touching the surface to the hidden language of the word 👏👏👏

[@kayekog]

I love to learn, although I tend to resist the effort sometimes. Well done. I'm going to watch again. Didn't fully understand how they see the plants differently.

[@nancyschannel9518]

Bee googles - see the world through the eyes of a bee, next beer googles - see...

[@RohitPant04]

Very interesting point about the electric charges between bees and flowers!

[@rainbowbooms5725]

The Last part was funny.lol.

[@sirjimbothefirst]

Beautiful and informative as always.

[@iambun777]

It would be really cool to develop bee goggles so that we could see the world as a bee does!

[@user-ck4xv7vf4u]

Excellent, I was doing a presentation v my students about bee vision.

[@pranay561]

Never seen Joe this less energetic

[@alanreeves9777]

So if sweat glows in uv, this is why bees Chase me when running

[@Necrikus]

So when are the videos explaining how bees do the impossible, touch the untouchable, and break the unbreakable?

[@JeoshuaCollins]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seta Most of that can be explained by their hair, actually. It's easily of the more fascinating parts about them. Check out the article on synthetic setae too, there is some amazing stuff in there about Van Der Waals forces. It mainly applies to Geckos, but it shows that just because something is just tiny hairs doesn't mean it doesn't have some amazingly powerful function.

[@sephirothjc]

Fight the power!

[@vidacropas]

~Fascinating! :) ~Thanks!

[@karenpotts3908]

Bees are amazing!

[@Fomelogo]

That was beautiful.

[@ThisIsMissLys]

Congrats Dr!

[@weeniefang]

so if bees see more than humans can, maybe that's why they never ever fly in a straight line; they're trying to fly around something so they don't run into it

[@VOLKAERIN]

CONGRADULATIONS!! YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL FIVE BLUE WIZARD!

[@kyidyl]

Shush, Joe is awesome. =D He's not just the "host", It's Okay to be Smart is his blog name and has been for years.

[@treveurg7111]

great vid!!

[@oceanlabrees5376]

what flower is that at 0:44 it grew by my old house in south oxnard and has the greatest sweetest smell of all flowers ive came across. ,

[@pyratebrewer8530]

Passion Flower en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passiflora

[@Mandud93]

Congrats on the Doctorate!

[@besmart]

We can build devices to convert just about any wavelength to something we can see. But if we do that, are we really "seeing" the world that way? Or just seeing the world as we do now, only with a representation of the invisible?

[@LouisEdouardJacques]

Congratulations Doctor !

[@yahdi]

thanks for teaching me

[@spliceosome]

beautiful images :D

[@AdminiumWarrior]

The speed Hank talks, I wonder how horrendous a ScieShow outtake would be :o

[@amberfrisbie0619]

Great Question, and Great answer Thankyou.

[@GarbageDevon]

Dang, I didn't know about the electrostatics part. Thanks for teaching me something!

[@JadeNagaraja]

Great information. Thanks

[@pendrednoyce2675]

Good presentation.

[@Zync2588]

Very interesting, glad I subscribed when I did.

[@hrishabhbairagi2420]

wwwwwwwwooooowwwwww!!!!! that's truly magnificent , Thanks a lot for the info.

[@amberfoss]

How incredible, I barely BEElieve 🐝😆 him

[@Sandypetr]

Huh. I have a bee that can't fly for 2 weeks now. I was wondering how she sees me. Thanks for this video. :-)

[@Hipsterrify]

Congratulations!!

[@MsKaddelz]

Now I want a bee tattoo

[@funkkyzenzei]

You like Carl Sagan AND He-Man. You Sir, have all the ingredients to be an awesome person!

[@audreyfischer]

Thank you Dr Joe. We're beekeepers. 2 questions: I'm wondering how many ways light pollution affects pollinators in general and migration of some pollinators like the monarch butterfly.

[@Zivlix]

Bruh

[@toomuchglitters7254]

I don't think light pollution would affect pollinators since the sun would simply outshine all of it and as you probably know, bees don't like going out at night 😆

[@lionki661]

😇😁😁😁thank you so much for this video i need to stude on sicence his helped me a lot😀😇

[@RACH5188]

Thanks for this one! Any chance you can do one on why it takes so long for our eyes to become adjusted to the dark?

[@durilo7]

nice :) tnx

[@davidshi451]

Apparently, bees are also attracted to the symmetry of flowers, as that often means sweeter necter

[@bandarisandeep]

Great Videos , Thanku for that. can please make video on Albert Einstein Statement on bees "If the Bee Disappeared Off the Face of the Earth, Man Would Only Have Four Years Left To Live "

[@assassingio1866]

Bees are wonderful species.

[@nedusin]

Also, subscribed

[@TxaiFolly]

congrats!

[@maureenfonken3812]

So, the question I have, which I am having trouble finding an answer for, is does this make the flower more neutral? Or does it flip the charge completely? My students keep wanting it to be positive, but I don't think that sounds right.

[@drunkalfuzzyness]

This is really getting me wanting to make uv photography!! Turns out its quite expensive with lots of technical jargen im not to familier with :/

[@StrangerYann]

Some make a bee simulator w/ jetpack & fuzzy costumes plz KthxBai :3

[@Hipsterrify]

Can we get an "Outtakes of 'It's okay to be smart" video?

[@DarkSnP]

Holy hell 10 years ago!? Lol I need another update

[@kittenkat9845]

Bees really like me for some reason

[@wiltedlilygirl]

My best friend just finished her PhD in molecular biology as well! Congrats. Do you have any postdoc plans?

[@sethappleton7628]

cool thing is that you can have a lens removed from your eye that allows your eye to see UV light, however it often is only done to protect vision and isn't something like plastic surgery

[@ASUALPHADELTS]

like your channel thanks a lot for sharing

[@mikethomas3498]

Please ... their is definitely a creator behind this ... it could not be otherwise ...

[@michaelmckinley4588]

100 i never see the unseen, but it is nice to get a taste....

[@ascdancer]

"And as always....." I said thanks for watching, then realised, that's vsauce Great video!

[@Endoe.McKronic]

I rather thank GOD the creator for designing such wonderful creatures!

[@totalrandomusername]

Stay this awesome guys!

[@msm2029]

Wings Of Life!!!

[@besmart]

The bad language rating on that might be a little extreme. But I'd love to do that!

[@nedusin]

LMAO. The first 20 secs of this video

[@japanesecigarette]

I quite like him. ^_^

[@MrDallasSummers]

make me wish i had a UV camera or something ,i would love to see just one flower from the prospective of the apis mellifera .

[@technicaldifficulties3289]

Doctor Joe!

[@SignoreJohanDiego]

"Electric Velcro". That should be a band,

[@nirmalthakur7463]

1.31 this is what you are looking for

[@srd6359]

2:46 HEMAN?!?!?

[@abinslaeh]

Thank you for your good work and informations, I notice honey bees stop forage about 11 oclock , is that depend on UVA ?, its is about 10 at that times. thank you again.

[@nataliewoodley-yg1vd]

What colors bees don't like we painted our house yellow now we have bees in front our house

[@reduxThe1]

What is the horn-like sound at 0:17?

[@unvergebeneid]

I hope it's FSC-certified mahogany ;)

[@louisrust]

it's ok to bee smart

[@teenmoon5]

does anyone know the name of that flower that blooms in this video?

[@ximenasandoval1445]

this video likes me because y my science class we learnd of living beings and we are in the part of insects =)

[@Zivlix]

ximena sandoval you must have been 8 years old at the time you wrote this lol

[@juanmorell4884]

Are you the long-lost brother of John and Hank Green?

[@mina86]

So weird, nottinghamscience just had a mention of the same thing.

[@morganfreeman1103]

0:26 is that a giant microbe

[@tacodragon8113]

The first joe vid

[@DrKlausSchmitt]

And here how we look like to a bee: How the bee sees you in UV

[@NickkaDUB]

During the daytime when the bees 🐝 are out, I’ll be outside smoking 🚬 next to my hot tub. There’s a cover on and the air leaks out from inside. I can’t see it other than colder nights when it looks like smoke 💨 is leaking out. I wonder what the bees 🌈 🐝 are seeing.?.

[@diazbraulioo]

You said we would need the right pair of eyes to see the rest of the world. What would the world look like under different types of light aside visible light and UV light?

[@prince_nox]

I know how mega useful bees are, but my question is what the hell is the point of wasps? They pretty much do the same thing, only wasps are nastier and don't produce honey, so what's the deal with wasps?

[@quinnwildgen3006]

+ANIME-SITY Wasps have a job to do - and that's insect control !. Without them we'd be overrun by flies, spiders, and garden pests. Think of them as our insect predators - as valuable as our raptors, wolves, and lions are to keeping our ecosystems in balance.

[@mikasa2748]

Somehow, the older the video the older Joe look

[@raynewagner6048]

nice