Lars Chittka

Our smart bees in Shaastra, a science and technology magazine published by the Indian Institute of Technology

Scientists now know that bees can process time, a first in insects | CNN Bumblebees can process the duration of flashes of light and use the information to decide where to look for food, a new study has found.

Sliiiight exaggeration there by CNN, but nonetheless happy about this new collaborative study with Eli Versace's team: @elisabettaversace.bsky.social edition.cnn.com/2025/11/12/s...

Do bees see nothing? Primates with damage to the visual cortex have no conscious visual experience, but display adaptive visual behaviour (a phenomenon called blindsight). Here I team up with two primate researchers to ask if bee vision could be similar to blindsight. www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

The earliest mature debate about animal consciousness occurred around 1900 and centred on the insects. We cover this rich history in this new article, as well as some more recent developments on the topic: royalsocietypublishing.org/.../10.../rs...

Postdoctoral fellow

🐦 EcoBird is hiring a Postdoc in animal cognition!

Join us + @themanybirds.bsky.social to investigate innovation & problem-solving in birds.

📅 Start: as early as Jan 2026
🌍 Funded through UGent’s international mobility scheme

More info & how to apply ↓
www.ugent.be/en/work/scie...

The exploration of consciousness in insects | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Consciousness is a state of subjective experience or awareness, e.g. of an emotion, the self or external objects. In humans, this awareness is underpinned by a suite of cognitive functions, from attention to metacognition. To understand the evolution of ...

Hey folks, it's been a while!
I just wanted to share my latest paper with @larschittka.bsky.social exploring consciousness in insects!
Have a read if you want to learn more about this fascinating subject 😀

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Here: a bee trained to discriminate between long and short duration by @alexdqm.bsky.social @ishaninanda.bsky.social
#AnitaOng for "Duration discrimination in the bumblebee..."
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....
@royalsocietypublishing.org
cc @larschittka.bsky.social sky.social

2/n This 🐝 work has been a great collaboration between
@alexdqm.bsky.social ,
@ishaninanda.bsky.social
# AnitaOngLayMun @larschittka.bsky.social and me from
@preparedmindslab.bsky.social

see below for a videoclip of the bees

@queenmarycbb.bsky.social

Un conversatorio mañana en la Sociedad de Estudiantes del Instituto de Fisiología Celular, UNAM Ciudad de Mexico. Debería ser divertido!

Auditory encoding during the last moment of a moth's life SUMMARY. The simple auditory system of noctuoid moths has long been a model for anti-predator studies in neuroethology, although these ears have rarely been experimentally stimulated by the sounds the...

Interesting title that... journals.biologists.com/jeb/article-...

We have a PhD student opening for Insect Cognition via the CSC (Chinese citizens only in this case - deadline January 28) - please pass on to anyone who might be interested and qualified: www.qmul.ac.uk/sbbs/postgra...

Looking forward to giving a presentation at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens Auditorium in Ann Arbor next week

Gli insetti provano dolore? - Il Post È una possibilità sempre più indagata dalla ricerca e che potrebbe cambiare in modo fondamentale il nostro rapporto con loro

in Italian: Do insects feel pain? www.ilpost.it/2025/10/13/i... it covers also @preparedmindslab.bsky.social work in collaboration with @larschittka.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... , www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Happy to give a presentation in such illustrious company at the 3rd International Conference on Bee Health at the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in Fuzhou, China this coming week

Exciting new work from former team members Eric Romero, Cwyn Solvi, Fei Peng and colleagues makes the cover of Science: affective contagion in bumblebees! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A few of my ideas on PhD student training

Coming soon: Response-specific behavioral plasticity in habituation triggered by repeated visual looming stimuli in foraging bumblebees (Bombus terrestris), by Dissegna, Andrea Chittka, Lars and Chiandetti, Cinzia psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...

At our launching event "Mind, Tech, and Wellbeing" for our new Research Centre for Brain and Behaviour at QMUL! Follow us on here @queenmarycbb.bsky.social to hear more about our research
@qmul.bsky.social @larschittka.bsky.social

Insect spatial memory is thought to be based on panoramic snapshots that are modelled as retinotopic images. This idea won't allow a distinction of landmarks from the scene. Unexpectedly, our data suggest that 🐝 learn 3D-objects as individual landmarks. #neuroethology
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The cover of ‘The mind of a bee’ by Lars Chittka. One of the best books!

Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews.
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
#bees #bumblebees
#NatureBookChallenge

When bees carry individual marks, you realise that they are not "attracted to flowers" like some silly reflex machines - in fact they know where they're going and the same individuals often return to the same flowers whose locations, appearance and rewards they have learned. Go Orange 24!

Rapid Divergence of Visual Systems and Signaling Traits to Contrasting Light Regimes During Early Speciation of African Crater Lake Cichlid Fish Abstract. Sensory adaptation is widely hypothesized to drive ecological speciation, yet empirical evidence from natural populations undergoing early stage

Very proud of this extremely collaborative piece: academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
Here, we show that divergence in visual systems - in response to differences in the light environment - leads to rapid divergence in sexually selected colour traits. Work brilliantly led by Madeleine Carruthers. 🐟👀🎨

Come and work with us! Three new academic posts (including Animal Behaviour) and superb facilities in the new Life & Mind Building

Bienenforscher Lars Chittka - Denkende Bienen und spielende Hummeln Bienen und Hummeln sind ganz schön schlau. So hat Bienenforscher Lars Chittka herausgefunden, dass diese Insekten zählen und spielen können.

🆕 Lars Chittka in der Sendung „Im Gespräch“, Deutschlandfunk Kultur:
www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/bienenforsch...

Male bumblebees adapt foraging to environmental conditions to sustain mate-seeking efforts Male bees navigate complex trade-offs between energy acquisition and reproductive signalling, yet their movement strategies remain understudied. Unlike workers that optimise foraging to support the co...

New paper on male bumblebee spatial movement strategies: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Honeybees adapt to a range of comb cell sizes by merging, tilting, and layering their construction Honeybees often need to build their comb under conditions that prevent a regular hexagonal lattice. This study uses 3D printed panels and X-ray microscopy to explore their adaptive process when differ...

It was a pleasure handing this exciting study as editor for PLOS Biology: journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Thank you! ☺️

Bienenforscher Lars Chittka - Denkende Bienen und spielende Hummeln Bienen und Hummeln sind ganz schön schlau. So hat Bienenforscher Lars Chittka herausgefunden, dass diese Insekten zählen und spielen können.

Ein Interview letzte Woche im Deutschlandfunk www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/bienenforsch...

Thank you!!! 🙏

Black square with the writing 'Queen Mary University of London Shortlisted for University of the Year' written on it in white, along with the Time Higher Education Awards 2025 logo in gold and white

Queen Mary is delighted to be a ‘University of the Year’ finalist in the #THEAwards!

And we're so proud Professors @larschittka.bsky.social and @alastairhackney.bsky.social have been shortlisted for Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year. @timeshighered.bsky.social

tinyurl.com/ebe8yx23