The mechanisms of cognition in bees and flies

A honey bee brain, smaller than a sesame seed, enables the insect to navigate, learn, remember, and even display signs of consciousness. This project combines the honey bee and the fruit fly to reverse-engineer how such a tiny network of neurons performs complex cognition—working memory, attention, sleep, and multimodal learning. Understanding how a miniature brain achieves these feats addresses a fundamental gap in neuroscience: how do neural circuits give rise to cognition? The insect brain is far simpler than the human brain, yet it solves many of the same computational problems. By using neurogenetics, imaging, and behavioural analysis, the researchers aim to identify the specific circuit features that support these abilities. This is primarily curiosity-driven fundamental science. There is no immediate practical application. However, a deeper understanding of how minimal neural circuits support memory and decision-making could eventually inspire more efficient artificial intelligence architectures, or inform novel approaches to treating neurological conditions where circuit-level processing goes awry. Past fundamental research on insect navigation, for example, led directly to algorithms used in modern robotics and autonomous systems.