In Morse code, a brief period flash or ‘dot’ represents a letter ‘E’ and a long period of time flash, or ‘dash’, implies letter ‘T’.

Previously, the capability to discriminate in between ‘dot’ and ‘dash’ has actually been seen just in human beings and other vertebrates such as macaques or pigeons.

Queen Mary University of London Ph.D. trainee Alex Davidson and coworkers studied this capability in Bombus terrestris bumblebees.

They constructed an unique labyrinth to train private bumblebees to discover a sugar benefit at one of 2 flashing circles, revealed with either a long or brief flash period.

When the brief flash, or ‘dot,’ was associated with sugar, then the long flash, or ‘rush,’ was rather associated with a bitter compound that bumblebees dislike.

At each space in the labyrinth, the position of the ‘dot’ and ‘dash’ stimulus was altered, so that bumblebees might not count on spatial hints to orient their options.

After bumblebees found out to go directly to the flashing circle coupled with the sugar, they were evaluated with flashing lights however no sugar present, to inspect whether bumblebees’ options were driven by the flashing light, instead of by olfactory or visual hints present in the sugar.

It was clear the bumblebees had actually discovered to inform the light apart based upon their period, as the majority of them went directly to the ‘proper’ flashing light period formerly connected with sugar, regardless of spatial area of the stimulus.

“We wished to discover if bumblebees might discover to the distinction in between these various periods, and it was so interesting to see them do it,” Davidson stated.

“Since bumblebees do not experience flashing stimuli in their natural surroundings, it’s amazing that they might prosper at this job.”

“The truth that they might track the period of visual stimuli may recommend an extension of a time processing capability that has actually progressed for various functions, such as monitoring motion in area or interaction.”

“Alternatively, this unexpected capability to encode and process time period may be an essential element of the nerve system that is intrinsic in the homes of nerve cells. Just more research study will have the ability to resolve this concern.”

The neural systems associated with the capability to monitor time for these periods stay primarily unidentified, as the systems found for entraining with the daytime cycle (body clocks) and seasonal modifications are too sluggish to discuss the capability to separate in between a ‘dash’ and a ‘dot’ with various period.

Different theories have actually been advanced, recommending the existence of a single or numerous biological rhythms.

Now that the capability to separate in between periods of flashing lights has actually been found in bugs, scientists will have the ability to check various designs in these ‘mini brains’ smaller sized than one cubic millimeter.

“Many complex animal habits, such as navigation and interaction, depend upon time processing capabilities,” stated Dr. Elisabetta Versace, a scientist at Queen Mary University of London.

“It will be very important to utilize a broad relative technique throughout various types, consisting of pests, to clarify the development of those capabilities.”

“Processing periods in bugs is proof of a complicated job option utilizing very little neural substrate.”

“This has ramifications for complicated cognitive-like qualities in synthetic neural networks, which must look for to be as effective as possible to be scalable, taking motivation from biological intelligence.”

The outcomes were released November 12, 2025 in the journal Biology Letters

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Alexander Davidson et al2025. Period discrimination in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris Biol. Lett 21 (11 ): 20250440; doi: 10.1098/ rsbl.2025.0440