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Caffeine is found in more than morning beverages—scientists estimate that 55 percent of flowering plants also produce caffeine in their nectar, which draws in consumers like honeybees. In a recent study, nectar spiked with caffeine led honeybees to return—and direct their hivemates—to the food source more often than to an uncaffeinated feeder, researchers reported in Current Biology last week (October 15).
A team from the University of Sussex, U.K., led by Margaet Couvillon, trained honeybees to forage from one of two feeders. One provided an average nectar sucrose solution, while the other was spiked with caffeine (though otherwise identical). The researchers tracked the bees with tiny number tags, and saw that honeybees feeding from the caffeinated feeder returned more often, even when the feeder was ...
