The three monotheistic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam extensively mention bees and honey in their scriptures. For instance, Chapter 16 of the Qur’an is titled “The Bee.” Other religions also allude to bees and honey. Primary Hindu Vedic scriptures, some as old as 1500 BC, have allusions to pollen and honey, which it calls, “the nectar of the Sun.” Srimad Mahabhagavatam, the Hindu scripture, reveres wise men in the following way: “Like a honey bee gathering honey from all types of flowers the wise men search everywhere for truth and sees only good in all religions.” One of the constituents of Panchamrita, a mixture of five foods used in Hindu worship, is honey (the others are milk, yogurt, ghee, and jaggery. And in the Buddhist festival of Madhu Purnima, honey plays an important role. [1]

Why this religious focus on bees and honey? Well, it stems in large part from the medicinal and therapeutic qualities of honey. Many people, including scientists, are not aware of the perfect design and intelligence the honeybee is blessed with.

The honeybee’s brain

The brain of the honeybee is about the size of a sesame kernel. It measures just one cubic millimeter in volume. Despite the small size, honeybee’s brain possesses more neurons than the brains of other insects of akin size. They recompense for their lesser brain size with bigger brain density: the honeybee’s brain is ten times more solid than the brains of mammals. They have an erudite sensory structure which gives them exceptional eyesight (including the capability to see ultra violet and polarized light) and profound senses of smell, taste, and touch. Their brains appear to have neuroplasticity which means that their brain is skilled in studying, familiarizing, and executing the same tasks, such as memory, in several places in the brain.

Though the honeybee’s brain holds less than a million neurons, compared to the 85 to 100 billion in our human brains, bees can do some astonishing things. They can count and understand intangible designs. Most superbly, bees have the capability to convey the location of flowers to other bees in the hive.

When a source of nectar and pollen is found by a searching bee, it communicates this information to other bees in the hive by doing an unusual figure-of-eight dance called the waggle dance. The waggle dance was first decrypted by Austrian biologist Karl von Frisch, who was awarded a Nobel Prize for his discovery in 1973. The dance itself is not extraordinary but it is a representative method of transmission of information. [2]

Bees get knowledge about the food source both from hearing the dance, as well as seeing it. Throughout the dance, bees pulsate their bellies. These shakings send out beats that are collected by an organ on the antennae of other bees, called Johnston’s organ. Johnston’s organs are comparable to human ears. [2]

It was not known until recently how the brain of the bee translates the data encrypted in the waggle dance. Bees usually only execute the dance in their hives; it’s challenging to make them dance in the laboratory.

Thankfully, the pulsations that were produced as a result of the waggle dance were recorded by researchers, who replicated the noises in the lab. This technique permitted them to trace which neurons were excited in reaction to the waggle dance and monitor their path in the brain of the honeybee.

Researchers detected three dissimilar types of “interneurons.” These are joining neurons that transmit messages between diverse portions of the brain. They discovered the pathway of interneurons in the portion of the brain involved with handling sound. They found that the way the interneurons turn on and off is fundamental to encrypting data about distance contained in the waggle dance. [2]

Other insects also use this mechanism of turning on and off. In neuroscience it is called “disinhibition.” For example, this is the mechanism that allows crickets to listen to the songs of other crickets and also how moths evaluate the distance from the source of a smell their antennae have collected. There is a shared neural origin in the way these diverse insects do things.

The bees perform six unique kinds of dances. They also learn and alter their conduct appropriately. When bees see a deceased bee at a flower, they alter the design of the dance they execute back at the hive, signifying they can do a risk/benefit evaluation.

Other dances

These are some of the other dances honeybees perform:

• The sickle dance is designed like a figure eight and reveals the nectar source is close, but not extremely close.
• The jostling dance is performed when a bee pushes other bees to get them to watch her wave backwards and forwards.
• The spasmodic dance is a dance in which a bee gives other bees a sip of liquid.

The easiest dance is the “round dance.” When the bee dances around in a circle, it communicates to other bees that the food source is very close. They can go out and just smell around to find it. (They know what to smell. They can smell the scent on the rummager’s body or because she has given them a little sip.)

The intelligence of honeybees [3]

Communication is crucial to developing multifaceted civilizations. Communication permits the honeybee to accomplish such amazing things, just as language is a crucial feature in human achievements. Intelligence is vital for both communication and language. Can we say the lowly honeybee, with a tiny brain, is intelligent? It’s a complicated attribute to describe. The American Psychological Association Task Force on Intelligence, describes it as the capability “to adapt efficiently to the environment and to learn from experience.” Bees are gifted enough to do this.

Together, bee and human communications suggest brain power or intelligence. There could be a mutual brain system between humans and honeybees. Bees have proven that you don’t need a big brain to be smart. Charles Darwin recognized this and wrote in 1871, “The brain of an ant is one of the most marvelous atoms of matter in the world, perhaps more so than the brain of man.” [2]

We have learned how smart honeybees are from observing their conduct and by running experiments that prove their knowledge and recollection skills. They can recognize and recall colors and familiar sights. They are able to discriminate amongst diverse scenery, kinds of flowers, forms, and designs.

Bees can recall path particulars up to six miles, and over several days. They can visualize a map, ascertain the straight length connecting two points, and take a diverse path for their outbound and incoming voyages. They can traverse even in the dark of night.

Honeybees are able to perform numerous separate roles during their lifetime, each needing distinct talents. The youthful bees are nurture bees, nursing the family. Afterwards, they make the honey combs, creating perfect hexagonal shapes. Finally, they become hunters, discovering honey and transporting it back to the hive.

They can discern dangerous fungi from innocuous ones. They can also formulate medication (propolis) when destructive fungi are present.

Honeybees certainly have the capability to reason. They can acquire many new skills very rapidly. They have a superior ability to understand and reminisce, at least compared to other insects.

They are capable of intangible thinking, judgment-making, and organizing. They have demonstrated a proficiency at counting and an awareness of time.

The hunter bees have to do several chores that need intelligence: they must discover flowers, decide if they are a good foundation of nectar, find their return journey to the hive, and then impart this knowledge to the other explorers.

They do not utilize devices present in nature, but they can learn how to use tools. It is proven by experiments that when one bee was taught to pull a string to get a sugary reward, another bee acquired the technique just by watching the first bee. What is more astonishing is they could teach this technique to other bees.

How do honeybees make decisions?

Scavenging requires no predominant judgment making. Every bee recognizes only her own liquid source. If the food source is meager, she will swiftly abandon it and will not perform a waggle dance to guide her hive friends to that food source. As an alternative, she will observe the waggle dance of another bee who has discovered an abundant source of nectar and focuses her hunting endeavors on that source. On the contrary, if her source is abundant, she will work on that source constantly and engage other bees to join her.

Every bee formulates her own distinct cost-benefit analysis and makes a decision that influences whether or not she will forsake a source or engage other bees to it. If she vacates her source, she will shadow another bee indiscriminately; she does not match nectar sources.

Due to these transactions the whole hive has improved their foraging skills as a result of the judgments of thousands of separate bees.

The worth of a nectar source is not centered only on the sweetness of the source. It seems that remoteness from the hive, climate environments, the hive’s needs, the quantity of the source, and other relevant features are all taken into account. [3]

What if humans had a bee brain?

One can imagine how clever humans would be if our much bigger brains had the abilities of a bee’s brain. Comparing the weights of brains, a bee brain is about 20,000 times smaller than a human brain. However, they are able to do more with less.

For instance, how do bees have an internal GPS? Scientists have speculated that bees have the ability to sense the earth’s magnetic fields or the divergence of the sun’s light. A latest theory is that bees may be talented enough to perceive quantum fields or quarks. Bees appear to have some inherent sense of the sun’s movement and position. [3]

An international team of researchers has discovered that even a lowly honeybee can differentiate between and remember different human faces. “The more we study these creatures, the more we find they have abilities like ours,” says insect-vision researcher Professor Mandyam Srinivasan of the Australian National University in Canberra. “From bees to wasps, spiders and even sheep, other animals have proven they can not only recognize our faces, but they navigate mazes, match objects and shapes and even associate smells with previous experiences. Sometimes I wonder what we are doing with two-kilogram brains,” ponders Srinivasan. [4]

Human beings are not the only species that can contemplate intangible mathematical ideas like nonexistence. That the number zero is less than one is understood by some other animals. It has been known that dolphins, African gray parrots, and primates also understand the idea of “zero,” but researchers were astonished to find that honeybees also understand this idea, bearing in mind the insects’ minute brains, according to a report from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. “If bees can perceive zero with a brain of less than a million neurons, it suggests there are simple, efficient ways to teach AI (Artificial Intelligence) new tricks,” Adrian Dyer, an investigator at RMIT University said in the report. [5]

It has been shown that the honeybee is able to accomplish instantaneous calculations quicker than even the fastest computers. For navigation, honeybees must perform very complex calculations. Honeybees are able to execute about 10 trillion calculations in a second, which is 625 times quicker than the 6 billion calculations per second of the fastest computer. A honeybee has a brain that is more advanced than the most cutting-edge super-computer that has ever been produced. [6]

Conclusion

The honeybee is a lowly animal that is still recognized by many religious scriptures. The honey it produces has many medicinal and therapeutic values. The intelligence of the honeybee, with its tiny brain, is astonishing. And yet, we should reflect that however remarkable the honeybee’s brain is, the human brain is millions of times more complex.

References

1. DrBeekeeper:Bees Throughout the Ages: Bees in Religion.Posted on 25/04/2013,http://drbeekeeper.com/2013/04/bees-throughout-the-ages-bees-in-religion/
2. Hooper R. Bee research may redefine understanding of Intelligence. The Japan News, November 28, 2017.https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/11/28/national/science-health/bee-research-may-redefine-understanding-intelligence/#.Wyq3CiApCUk
3. Giordano C. How smart are Hone Bees? July 17, 2017https://owlcation.com/stem/How-Smart-are-Honey-Bees
4. O’Hanlon L. Honey bees recognize people. ABC Science, December 20, 2005http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2005/12/20/1532832.htm
5. Saplakoglu Y. Honeybees know a Lot About Nothing. Live Science, June 8, 2018https://www.livescience.com/62773-bees-understand-concept-of-zero.html
6. Sejnowski, T.J. and Churchland, P.S. The Computational Brain (MIT Press, 1992), p. 9 See also Sejnowski, T.J. and Churchland, P.S., 1992, Relating to the computing power of the brain of the honeybee. Byte Magazine, October, 1992, p. 137 http://www.streetwitnessing.org/creation-evolution/intelligent-design/complex-systems-of-design/

Further reading

Zhang, S; Bock F; Si A; Tautz J; Srinivasan MV (April 5, 2005). “Visual working memory in decision making by honey bees”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 102 (14): 5250–5.

Frisch, K. von. 1956. Bees; their vision, chemical senses, and language. Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University Press.

Munz, T. (November 2005). “The Bee Battles: Karl von Frisch, Adrian Wenner and the Honey Bee Dance Language Controversy”. Journal of the History of Biology. 38 (3): 535–570.

Hay and Su had been hungry for almost a week. Spring was in full bloom, and birds were chirping. Living in a cave was safer and warmer than outside, especially during the long winters. However, the food stock they had was almost finished. As the sun rose higher, the hunter-gatherer couple left their cave to find some food and hunt some animals to cook with the fire they had recently invented. As they searched for some fruit in the forest, they heard wood cracking and then a sudden loud growl from the bushes. The grizzly bear started to chase them, and they ran away quickly. They successfully ran back to their safe cave; however, during the chase, a tree branch scratched and wounded Su’s shoulder and she was severely bleeding. Hay first applied some ash to the wound to stop the bleeding; then he went out to the cliff, a smoking branch in his hand. He tied his rope ladder to a tree and climbed down the cliff. Once he reached the bee’s nest, he gently waved his smoky branch to numb the honeybees and collected their honey, pouring it into a carved stone. Then he rushed back to the cave, covered Su’s open wound with honey, and fed her the leftovers. The wound was closed within a couple of days without any significant inflammation, infection, or scar. Then Su and Hay carved their adventure into the wall of their cave, which is located in today’s Valencia, Spain, and was recently discovered by anthropologists – a mere 8000 years later.

Honey is a viscous, supersaturated sugar solution derived from nectar and honeydew. It’s gathered from flowers and modified by the honeybee, Apis mellifera. Honey is composed of more than 200 components, which are mostly carbohydrates (76%) and water (20%), as well as many other substances, such as amino acids, vitamins, minerals, organic acids, polyphenols, and enzymes. From ancient times, due to its high biological activity potential, honey has been used in wound care, infection control, and treatment of abdominal pains and skin and eye diseases. Thus, it was frequently mentioned in the early pharmacopeia of the Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Indians, Chinese, Turks, Arabs, and other civilizations.

For the last two decades, scientists and healthcare professionals have studied the potential uses and benefits of honey. Cell assays, animal studies, and clinical trials have provided evidence for the use of medical grade honey in the control and treatment of wounds, cancer, diabetes, and asthma, as well as cardiovascular, neurological, and gastrointestinal diseases.

Medical grade honeys possess high bioactivity potential, which differs depending on the floral source, geographical origin, and harvest time. Worldwide, the most common honey types used for medical purposes are Manuka, Tualang, Gelam, Ulmo, Castanea (chestnut), Rhododendron (Azalea), Quercus (Oak), Acacia, Thyme, and Jungle.

Honey in wound treatment

A wound is, broadly, the destruction of the integrity of tissue, which may also include neighboring areas. This destruction can be either penetrating or non-penetrating, and induced by accidents, surgeries, or violence (Martinotti et al). Depending on the healing time, wounds are classified as acute or chronic. Generally acute wounds heal in a short and predicted amount of time without major complications. The chronic wounds take much longer to heal and present different complications such as infection, contamination of the wound bed, or ischemia, the limited supply of blood that carries oxygen and nutrients to the wounded tissue. The chronic wounds are also known as ulcers and can be grouped as pressure (bed sores), diabetic, venous, and arterial ulcers, which mostly result from chronic medical illnesses such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, thrombosis, paralysis, etc. (woundcarecenters.org). The process of wound healing is generally divided into four overlapping stages: homeostasis (seconds to minutes), inflammation (3-5 days), proliferation (4-14 days), and remodeling (8 days to 1 year) (Miguel 2017).

Different clinical trials and in vitro studies have reported the broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties of honey (Israili 2014). Moreover, honey provides hygroscopic, immunostimulatory, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidant properties, which are necessary for the healing of both infected and ischemic chronic wounds. Therefore, medical grade honey promotes the immune response, treats microbial infections, prevents cross-contamination, promotes autolytic debridement, balances inflammatory activity, stimulates growth of wounded tissue to hasten healing, and promotes the healing process in chronic wounds (Miguel 2017).

In a recent Cochrane review, which is considered as the highest standard in evidence-based clinical resources, Jull AB et. al. reviewed the evidence about the healing effects when applying honey on different kinds of wounds (Jull 2015). They analyzed 26 different clinical studies involving 3011 people with acute (e.g. burns, lacerations) and/or chronic (e.g. venous ulcers) wounds. Honey was compared with many alternative wound dressings and topical treatments in the included studies. They concluded that there is high quality evidence that honey heals partial thickness burns around 4 to 5 days more quickly than conventional dressings. There is also reasonable evidence that honey is more effective than antiseptic gauze for healing infected wounds (Jull 2015).

As a particular example, Yusoff KM and his colleagues treated 102 patients with untreatable chronic wounds with honey as a last resort. Most of these wounds were infected with pathogenic bacteria of 14 different strains, and two of them were antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which could not be treated using conventional antibiotics. Of the 102 patients, 100% of them were successfully cured with topical application of honey within 4 to 7 weeks of daily treatment. Moreover, limbs of the diabetic wound patients were saved from amputation after their ulcers were healed (Figure 1). 

Meanwhile, studies on different animal models provided evidence that honey accelerates wound healing in animals. Fifteen of the 16 controlled trials in five different animal models (mice, rats, rabbits, pigs, and buffalo calves) found that honey-treated incisional and excisional wounds, and that standard burns healed faster than control wounds (Jull 2015). 

Consequently, existing evidence from animal studies and clinical trials strongly suggests that medical grade honey has the potential to treat various types of wounds without causing any serious side effects.

Honey in cancer

Cancer is uncontrolled cell growth within a certain tissue or throughout the body due to mutations in the genome. As one of the major causes of death worldwide, more than 8.8 million deaths were reported in relation to cancer in 2015 (WHO). Meanwhile, cancer is not a disease occurring in one cell type only; there are more than 100 cancer types identified to date (cancer.gov). Both the genetic and environmental factors contribute to the development of cancer in different cells. There are three major steps when cancer attacks the body: initiation, proliferation, and progression. The normal cell transforms into a cancer cell due to an irreversible mutation within its genome; then it starts to replicate in an uncontrollable manner and forms a tumor mass; finally, these mutated cells invade the bloodstream and metastasize to different tissues within the body. Despite extensive research projects devoted to diagnosing and treating cancer, it remains as one of the least treatable diseases.

Conventional treatments for cancer are surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and cellular therapy. Meanwhile, natural products with high anticancer potential are also being considered for research and treatment as complementary and integrative medicine (CIM) agents. Due to limitations of conventional methods, such as affordability and side effects, and promising evidence-based results of various CIM approaches, physicians and patients are getting more interested in CIM applications for the treatment of various cancer types.

Among the CIM agents, medical grade honey is one of the most promising natural products for treatment of some cancers due to its high bioactivity potential. Scientists studied the capacity of honey to both prevent tumor development and inhibit progression. Most of these studies were performed in vitro, using cell cultures in the lab. When tested on several types of human cancer cell lines (breast, prostate, liver, endometrial, cervical, lung, skin, kidney, bladder, oral squamous cell carcinoma, and osteosarcoma), honeys from diverse floral sources demonstrated potential anticancer activity (Ahmed S 2018, Erejuwa 2014). Moreover, several studies showed that different cancers, in animal models, were successfully treated with honey (Ahmed S 2018). It has been shown that honey provides antiproliferative, antitumor, antimetastatic, and anticancer effects via diverse mechanisms, including cell cycle arrest, the activation of mitochondrial pathways, induction of apoptosis, modulation of oxidative stress, amelioration of inflammation, modulation of insulin signaling, and inhibition of angiogenesis in cancer cells. It has also been shown that honey is highly and selectively cytotoxic against tumor or cancer cells while it is non-cytotoxic to normal cells. It can inhibit cancer development by modulating or interfering with the molecular processes or events of initiation, proliferation, and progression (Erejuwa 2014). In the PubMed, the largest database of biomedical research articles, there are almost 400 research papers and review articles published about the use of honey in cancer treatment. Moreover, there are more than 15 active clinical trials using honey for treatment of cancer and side effects of chemotherapy (Clinicaltrials.gov). Consequently, medical grade honey can be considered as a potential and promising anticancer agent which warrants further research—both in experimental and clinical studies.

Besides wound healing and cancer, honey is being actively studied for treatment of diabetes, neurological, cardiovascular, and metabolic disorders, as well as eye diseases.

REFERENCES

1. Jull AB, Cullum N, Dumville JC, Westby MJ, Deshpande S, Walker N. Honey as a topical treatment for wounds. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015; 3:CD005083.
2. Martinotti S.; Ranzato, E. Honey’s healing history. In Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Honey Wound Healing; Nova Publishers Inc.: Hauppauge, NY, USA, 2014
3. Ahmed S, Sulaiman SA, Baig AA, Ibrahim M, Liaqat S, Fatima S, Jabeen S, Shamim N, Othman NH. Honey as a Potential Natural Antioxidant Medicine: An Insight into Its Molecular Mechanisms of Action. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2018 Jan 18. doi: 10.1155/2018/8367846.
4. Israili ZH. “Antimicrobial properties of honey,” American Journal of Therapeutics, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 304–323, 2014.
5. Miguel MG, Antunes MD, and Faleiro ML. Honey as a Complementary Medicine. Integrative Medicine Insights 2017 Volume 12: 1–15. DOI: 10.1177/1178633717702869
6. Cutting KF. Honey and contemporary wound care: An overview. Ostomy/Wound Management 2007 Vol 53 (11): 49-54.
7. Yusoff KM, Akka ZS, Suhaimi A, Ali MRM, Yusoff MYM. The Efficacy of Honey Dressing on Chronic Wound and Ulcers. Honey: Current Research and Clinical Applications” published by NOVA Science Publishers, USA. 2012
8. https://www.woundcarecenters.org/article/wound-basics/different-types-of-wounds – accessed 6/17/2018
9. Oryan A, Alemzadeh E, Moshiri A. Biological Properties and Therapeutic Activities of Honey in Wound Healing: A narrative review and meta-analysis. 2016 Journal of tissue viability. 25. 10.1016/j.jtv.2015.12.002.
10. World Health Organization (WHO). http://www.who.int/cancer/en/ – accessed 6/17/2018
11. National Cancer Institute (NCI) https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/what-is-cancer#types – accessed 6/17/2018
12. Erejuwa OO, Suleiman SA, Ab Wahab MS. Effects of Honey and Its Mechanisms of Action on the Development and Progression of Cancer. Molecules 2014, 19(2), 2497-2522; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules19022497
13. Ahmed S and Othman NH. Honey as a Potential Natural Anticancer Agent: Review of Its Mechanisms. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/829070
14. https://clinicaltrials.gov – accessed on 6/18/2018

 {module Honey Pictures}

In 67 BCE, the magnificent Roman army, which was led by Pompey the Great, marched through the green mountains and blue shores of the Black Sea, chasing King Mithridates of Pontus and his Persian army. Once the Romans reached the highlands of Trabzon, now part of northeastern Turkey, they found pots full of local honey on the sides of their path. The hungry and tired Roman army, with a total of about 1000 soldiers, rushed into the pots, assuming they were gifts from the villagers. Within a couple of hours, a majority of Pompey’s soldiers were perplexed and hallucinating, and could no longer fight against Mithridates’ army. The Romans had been trapped by the “mad honey,” the first biological weapon used in history. The alkaloid grayanotoxin, of the rhododendron, locally known as the forest rose or the Kumar flower, induced aorta expansion among the Roman soldiers, which resulted in bradycardia (decrease in heart rate), hypotension, hallucinations, and eventually disorientation.[1] This mad honey is still being used, at low doses, by locals of the Black Sea region as a traditional medicine for the treatment of hypertension.

Honey is produced through enzymatic processing of the nectar or honeydew honeybees collect from various plants. The invertase enzyme within the bees’ abdomens catalyzes the conversion of sucrose – table sugar within the nectar – into glucose and fructose. Honey is supersaturated in sugars, packed with beneficial chemicals, and, thus, possesses high nutritive value. It has been used both as a nutritious food and a remedy for various ailments throughout history. Wound healing, and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases, conjunctivitis, acute fever, and pain, are just some of the disorders honey can treat.

Honeybees have been on the Earth for thousands of years due to their indispensable role as the ultimate pollinators. Bees pollinate more than 60% of the planet’s overall plants, as well as 35% of the world’s crops. Nowadays, due to a fall in productivity rates of some crops, farmers hire beekeepers to install their honeybee and bumble bee hives into their fields, allowing for more effective pollination of their crops. Between February and March each year, almond tree buds in California burst into beautiful light pink and white blossoms in preparation for pollination. As the trees blossom, honeybees forage for pollen and nectar in the orchard. When the bees move from tree to tree, they pollinate almond blossoms along the way. Each fertilized flower will grow into an almond. Honeybees also receive a great advantage from the almond pollinations. The almond pollens are rich in proteins and nutrients for the bees, and they are their first food source after the winter. Thus, the bee hives leave the almond fields stronger than they came. After almonds, beekeepers bring their honeybees to different locations across the United States, pollinating over 90 other crops and making honey.[2]

Honey in medical bibliography

Honey has been harvested by human beings for thousands of years, as was depicted at the “Man of Bicorp,” an 8000-year-old cave painting near Valencia, Spain.[3]

According to a Sumerian tablet, one of the oldest human scriptures dating back to about 2000 BC, a prescription for treating wounds reads: “grind to a powder river dust and …. (words missing) then knead it in water and honey and let plain oil and hot cedar oil be spread over it” (Jones 2001). This tablet demonstrates the oldest script about using honey for therapeutic purposes. Meanwhile, almost all great civilizations throughout history, including but not limited to Egyptians, Assyrians, Chinese, Indian, Mayan, Greek, Roman, Arabic, Ottoman, etc., praised honey in their texts; their doctors and healers used honey for treatments of various disorders. Honey was the most popular medical ingredient of the Egyptians, being mentioned in about 500 prescriptions among 900 papyri.[4]

Honey also has been praised in religious scriptures, including the Torah, Gospel, and Qur’an. In the present Torah, the Promised Land (Ha’Aretz HaMuvtahat – Ard Al-Mi’ad) is described as the land of milk and honey (Deuteronomy, 6: 3). According to the story in the Gospel, Jesus ate honey and bread to prove to the Apostles that he was not merely a spirit or figment of imagination. In the Qur’an, honey is clearly identified as “a healing for mankind”:

And your Lord inspired the (female) bee: “Take for yourself dwelling-place in the mountains, and in the trees, and in what they (human beings) may build and weave. Then eat of all the fruits, and returning with your loads, follow the ways your Lord has made easy for you. ” There comes forth from their bellies a fluid of varying color, wherein is health for human beings. Surely, in this, there is a sign for people who reflect. (16:68-69)

Moreover, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, praised honey as a source of healing for both the body and spirit. In his various traditions, the Prophet encouraged his followers to consume honey for its versatile medicinal use such as abdominal pain, as well as its high potential to protect people from many illnesses, indicating honey’s significant role in preventive medicine.

Avicenna (Ibn-i Sina) is the author of “The Cannon of Medicine” (Al-Qanun fi-t-Tibb) and his five-volume-book was a reference source for medical studies in the universities of Europe between the 12^th and 18^th centuries.[5] In the 2^nd volume of “The Cannon,” where he described the preparation of various pharmaceuticals for treatment, he listed honey in more than 35 prescriptions.

Until the early 20^th century, honey was used daily by physicians as a traditional medicine. It was even used on battlefields to treat wounds and burns. During World War II, Russian army nurses gave honey to wounded soldiers.[6]

As biochemistry and pharmaceutical researchers developed and introduced new drugs into modern medicine throughout 20^th century, scientific opinions on honey’s nutritive and medical uses have differed and clashed with folklore. However, recent controversies within the scientific community have re-kindled interest in the therapeutic uses of honey in modem medicine. Recently, scientific support has emerged in a proliferation of publications on the successful therapeutic use of honey in several general medical and surgical conditions. Thus, honey has been described as, “A remedy rediscovered,” by Dr. Zumla in an article in the “Journal of Royal Society of Medicine.”[7] A complementary branch of medicine, called apitherapy, has been developed in recent years, offering treatments against many diseases based on honey and other bee products, such as propolis, royal jelly, wax, and venom.

Components of honey

As described above, honey is not only a supersaturated sugar solution, but also equipped with more than 200 various chemical and biological components. This shouldn’t be surprising, as more than 60% of medicines on the medical market are extracted from plants. As the honeybees visit the flowers and trees, they work as diligent chemists collecting various organic compounds from within the plants.

Depending on its origin of flora, geographic region, harvest time, and strain of honeybee, the components of honey differs; hence, so does its physicochemical character and biological activity potential. Besides the sugars of glucose, fructose, and sucrose, which constitute about 76% of honey’s makeup, other minor components are present in honey, such as minerals, polyphenols, carotenoids, vitamins, amino acids, specific proteins and enzymes, organic acids, and volatile compounds. Some of the vitamins present in honey are B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, and pantothenic acid. The minerals include calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and zinc. While the amino acid content is minor, the broad spectrum of approximately 18 essential and nonessential amino acids present in honey is unique and varies by floral source. The polyphenols present in honey can act as antioxidants and they play a role in cleansing the body from the free radicals and reactive compounds, which can contribute to the development of serious illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. It is shown that honey contains a similar range of antioxidants that are found in green vegetables and fruit including broccoli, spinach, apples, oranges and strawberries.[8]

Types of honey

Since the nectar for honey is mostly collected from the various kinds of flowers within the bee’s two-mile foraging radius, not every honey is the same. Therefore, the science of melissopalynology is well developed to identify the pollen and nectar source of honey. Although there are many varieties, categories, and sub-categories of honey, all honey types can be divided into two general groups – multifloral honeys and monofloral honeys. Multifloral honeys are produced by honeybees using nectar from many different flower sources. On the other hand, honeybees can also produce honey from the nectar of one dominant flower species (>45%), which is called monofloral honey. The common monofloral honeys are acacia, eucalyptus, fir, spruce, heather, lavender, lime, linden, orange blossom, pine, rape, rosemary, sunflower, chestnut, thyme, and clover.[9] Due to easier standardization and sustainable production methods, monofloral honeys are preferable for animal studies and clinical trials. Among several monofloral types, manuka, chestnut, oak, tualang, gelam, and ulmo honeys are the most studied medical grade honeys worldwide.

Biological activity of honey

The Cochrane Reviews are systematic reviews of primary research in human healthcare and health policy and are internationally recognized as the highest standard in evidence-based healthcare resources.[10] In recent years, two reviews were published regarding the usage of honey in large clinical trials worldwide. They are titled “Honey as a topical treatment for acute and chronic wounds” [11] and “Honey for acute cough in children.”[12] These articles prove that the benefits of honey are being discussed by the major players within modern medicine.

The health benefits of uncontaminated pure honey range from antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and anti-inflammatory qualities, to antitumor actions, metabolic and cardiovascular benefits, prebiotic potentials, human pathogen control, and antiviral activity. Most of these reported biological activities are credited to the minor components present within the honey, which are mainly dependent on the floral or geographical origin of honey. Therefore, scientists and physicians admit that not every honey can be used for every disease. It has been documented that the darkness of honey positively correlates with its total phenolic contents, which significantly contributes to its biological activity potential.

In an interview with Prof. Kamaruddin Yusoff of BalMer Honey Research Center, he interprets the Quranic verse about the honey, which was described as fluid of varying color emerging from the bellies of honeybees, that different colors of honey can be used for treatment of different diseases. It has been documented that the darkness of honey positively correlates with its total phenolic contents, which significantly contributes to its biological activity potential. On the other hand, Prof. Irfan Yilmaz interprets the same verse as not only the honey but also other fluids such as propolis, royal jelly, wax, and venom are produced within different parts of the honeybee’s abdomens. Accordingly, several scientists focused on these fluids as a part of apitherapy.

Although most of the biological properties are attributed to the phenolic components, other biochemical factors may also be involved: high osmolarity and viscosity (76% sugar content), high acidity (pH 3.2 to 6.1), the glucose oxidase system (source of hydrogen peroxide), low redox potential, high carbon to nitrogen ratio, and the bee defensin-1 protein.

The osmotic pressure and viscosity of honey is due to low water (17%) and high sugar content (%76). The majority of sugars found in honey are monosaccharides, which are glucose (a range of 22-40%) and fructose (a range of 27-44%); and disaccharides, which are sucrose (a range of 1-5%) and maltose (a range of 1-5%). The high osmolarity of honey is enough to hinder the growth of microbes; thus, no bacteria, virus, or fungi can survive within honey. Consequently, honey has a very long, almost eternal shelf life. Recently, pots of honey were found by archeologists while they were excavating the pyramids in Egypt and this 3000-year-old honey was well preserved and still perfectly edible.[13] In a proverb it is said that “Noble doesn’t go astray, honey doesn’t spoil.”

The pH of honey is mostly dependent on the phenolic acids collected from the nectar sources; therefore, it changes with the foraging resources available to bees.

There are live enzymes within the honey, which are mostly introduced from the abdomens of honeybees. The predominant enzymes in honey are diastase (amylase), invertase, and glucose oxidase. Others, including catalase and acid phosphatase, can also be present, depending on the type of floral source. And recently, proteolytic enzymes have been found in honey. Among these enzymes, the glucose oxidase plays an essential role in producing hydrogen peroxide, which is critical to limit the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria. Once the honey is dissolved in water, glucose oxidase will catalyze the conversion of glucose into gluconic acid and H2O2. Since the amount of H2O2 is diminutive (0.3%) and slowly released, there is much less cytotoxic damage to the healthy cells, providing a better method than applying H2O2 directly to wounds and burns.

Researchers continue to study the potential uses and benefits of honey. Several clinical and animal studies suggest the use of honey in the control and treatment of wounds, diabetes, cancer, and asthma, as well as cardiovascular, neurological, and gastrointestinal diseases.^[14]

[1] https://today.tamu.edu/2014/10/15/expert-gives-the-buzz-on-mad-honey/

[2] http://www.almonds.com/consumers/about-almonds/bee

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuevas_de_la_Arana

[4] Grossman, R. The Other Medicines: The Penicillin of Bees. Pan Books, 1986:177

[5] http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/ibn-sinas-canon-medicine

[6] Leo A. Boсkeria, Sergey P. Glyantsev, Yan G. Kolesnikov, “Russian war surgery in 1812: 200 years since Russia’s war triumph” International Journal of Surgery, Volume 10, Issue 10, 2012, Pages 624-628, ISSN 1743-9191, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsu.2012.11.001

[7] Zumla A., Lulat A. Honey- A Remedy Rediscovered. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 1989 Vol 82 Pg385

[8] https://www.islamreligion.com/articles/10321/liquid-gold-benefits-of-honey/

[9] https://healthywithhoney.com/types-of-honey/

[10] http://www.cochrane.org/what-is-cochrane-evidence

[11] Jull AB, Cullum N, Dumville JC, Westby MJ, Deshpande S, Walker N. Honey as a topical treatment for wounds. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2015, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD005083. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD005083.pub4

[12] Oduwole O, Udoh EE, Oyo-Ita A, Meremikwu MM. Honey for acute cough in children. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2018, Issue 4. Art. No.: CD007094. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007094.pub5

[13] http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/history/honey-in-the-pyramids.aspx

[14] Samarghandian, S., Farkhondeh, T., & Samini, F. (2017). Honey and Health: A Review of Recent Clinical Research. Pharmacognosy Research, 9(2), 121–127. http://doi.org/10.4103/0974-8490.204647

Honey’s historical importance and usage, as well as all its features, have attracted many scientists to research its chemical properties to understand the biochemical mechanism behind its medicinal properties. Earlier research shows that there might be several mechanisms behind honey’s antimicrobial qualities.

These factors can be listed as: its high acidity (pH 3.5-4); its low water content (less than 17% with high sugar content); the presence of hydrogen peroxide; the presence of several organic compounds such as phenolic and methylglyoxal, which may vary according to the floral source.

Recent research by Susan M. Meschwitz of Salve Regina University shows that honey may prevent bacteria from communicating with other bacteria via quorum sensing, a chemical way that bacterial cells coordinate with their neighbors to coordinate certain behaviors, such as biofilm formation, virulence (infecting cells), and antibiotic resistance.

In order to understand how each of these factors is formed, we need to understand how honey is made by bees and what its content is.

Bees collect plant nectar, which is a mix of various different sugars, proteins, and other organic compounds, into a water solution. Of the more than 100 compounds found in honey, many are volatile organic compounds, such as phenolics, that contribute to flavor. Most honey contains the same phenolics, but in different concentrations. Since the composition of nectar that bees collect highly depends on the type of plant, we usually end up having many varieties of honey: There are more than 300 distinct honeys in the U.S. and more than 3,000 worldwide. However, the common and dominant ingredients of all honey are fructose and glucose, which exist mostly as sucrose, also known as table sugar, in plant nectar.

The process between plant nectar and the final product and its properties is highly dependent on the activities of the bees. The first process starts in the honey stomach of worker bees as soon as they collect the nectar from plants. The worker bees break down the sucrose, table sugar, into its component sugars, which are fructose and glucose, using digestive enzymes. This increases the viscosity of the nectar as the break down process continues. Worker bees spit up the processed nectar solution when they arrive at the hive. In the hive, house bees take the processed nectar and continue the process; by using several different enzymes, they further break down molecules and sucrose. At the end of the process, most of the sucrose is turned into fructose and glucose, which makes most of the final honey. Later, glucose is further processed, which results in some of the honey’s medicinal properties.

When the breakdown of the sucrose is achieved at the desired level, the processed nectar is placed in honeycomb to start the second phase of the process: reducing the water content of the nectar, which is another of the contributing factors in its medicinal properties. Nectar as gathered by the worker bees from the plant contains about 70% water and is reduced down to around 17% water as it becomes honey. This gives honey its thick consistency. Bees remove the excess moisture from the nectar by rapidly fanning their wings (their wings beat 200 times per second or 12,000 beats per minute) over the open cells of the honeycomb in the hive. This results in rapid evaporation of the water in the nectar and may take up to three days.

Honey has been used as food for millennia. Not only is it delicious, though, but it’s also a “super” food, renowned for its medicinal and antibacterial qualities

Reducing the water concentration is a critical step in achieving most of honey’s properties. The most important one is that the low water content prevents bacterial and mold growth in honey and this makes it a very good antibacterial agent. In addition, honey has a very low amount of water activity, which also prevents the growth of bacteria, fungi, or mold. Water activity is measured on a scale of 0 to 1, and honey’s water activity is around 0.6 on this scale. However, mold and bacteria require a water activity of 0.75 in order to be able to grow. Honey’s low water activity (it has few free water molecules) and its low water content dehydrate the microbes (resulting their death) and prevent spoiling. The same properties are also effective when honey is applied on an open wound and prevent bacterial growth on and around the wound.

As mentioned before, one of the factors contributing to honey’s antibacterial properties is its high acidity. Honey’s acidity ranges between 3.5 and 4 on the pH scale, which makes it more acidic than apple cider vinegar (pH around 4.5). The acidity of honey is the result of several acidic compounds and therefore highly depends on the plant source. These compounds include formic acid, citric acid, butyric acid, phenolics, and gluconic acid. The major contributor is gluconic acid, which is produced by the action of bee enzymes on some of the glucose molecules in the honey. Bacteria and mold prefer neutral mediums to grow. Therefore, honey’s high acidity, in addition to its low water activity and water content, further enhances its antibacterial properties and provides a harsh condition for microbes.

Hydrogen peroxide is one of the well-known wound cleaning solutions used to kill bacteria. Most of us may not know that honey also includes hydrogen peroxide. Honey’s hydrogen peroxide is produced as a side product during the enzymatic production of gluconic acid from glucose by glucose oxidase.

In addition to all these chemical and medicinal properties mentioned so far, these compounds further impact bacterial and mold growth by disrupting the communication between them, according a recent research. As scientists further research honey and its properties, they may even find new features and molecules, such as peptides or proteins, which could contribute to its antibacterial effectiveness. All these components may vary according to the floral variety of the bee’s environment and the plant nectar which is collected from that environment. They impact the flavor, appearance, and aroma of the honey as well as its medicinal properties. Since honey has multiple features, which all contribute into its antibacterial properties at the same time, one can easily say that honey is one of those miracle foods, just as ancient tribes knew, and it deserves more attention. However, an adulterated honey may not show the same effectiveness as natural honey, as it may lack one or more of the chemicals or properties, even though it may have the same content and flavor.

Further reading

• Rachel Petkewich. Honey. Chemical and Engineering News. 85, 2007, p. 29 (accessed online on 2/21/15, http://cen.acs.org/articles/85/i6/Honey.html)
• Celia Henry Arnaud. Looking Beyond the Sugars In Sweeteners. 92, 2014, pp. 10-13 (accessed online on 2/21/15, http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i15/ACS-Meeting-News-Looking-Beyond.html)

It’s not just modern medicine that utilizes bees and their products for healing. A clay tablet that dates back to 2000-2100 BC describes the healing properties of bee venom. In 1935, Forapin, which was isolated from bee venom, was introduced into the market. It’s still being used. Bee venom is collected by placing a small panel, which looks like a grill, in front of the bee hive. The panel is composed of metal wires in which low voltage electric currents flow. The entrance to the hive is through these wires. The bees that are entering or exiting the hive are subjected to a mild electric shock, and sting the panel with their needle as self defense. Meanwhile, the bee venom flows into the glass plate underneath the panel. Bee venom is collected and turned into a powder form without harming the bee.

The chemical composition and effects of bee venom

Bee venom is a colorless, odorless, clear, and water soluble liquid that is resistant to cold and hot temperatures. In normal seasonal temperatures, this venom dries up in 20 minutes and loses 65-70% of its weight. It takes a yellowish brown color after it is dry. 10,000 bee needles are needed for one gram of bee venom.

18 different bioactive molecules were found in the composition of bee venom. Some of these are: Melittin, adolapin, apamin, mast cell degranulation, histamine, phospholipase A, peptide, dopamine and hyaluronidase. These molecules show the characteristics of amino acid, protein, fat, sugar, and enzyme. Melittin and adolapin protein are anti-inflammatory; apamin increases nerve transmission; and mast cell degranulation is equipped with characteristics to help reduce allergies. Mellition, which is composed of 26 amino acids, is the main toxin molecule of the bee venom. Melittin triggers the synthesis of the cortisol hormone that suppresses inflammation and increases the resistance of cell walls. Melittin also triggers the immune system cells that prevent the formation of free radicals, which normally damage cells and tissue. As well as being antipyretic (fever decreasing), adolapin is also a pain reliever and also plays a role in the prevention of cyclooxygenase that are a cause of infection. Apaminin, which consists of 10 peptides, is thought to play a role in healing a damaged nervous system.

Low concentrations of mast cell degranulation proteins cause the synthesis of histamine, which triggers an allergic reaction; whereas high concentrations of it play a role in preventing these reactions. Although these molecules are called venom, they are provided with remarkable healing characteristics.

Treatment with bee venom

The fact that treatments for rheumatism are not completely effective has persuaded patients and healers to look into complimentary treatment techniques. Bee venom has gained acceptance as a complementary healing technique in China, the US, and Europe. Apitherapy centers have been popping up in these places – and the best method to apply apitherapy is by using bee venom.

The bee sting is mimicked by injecting bee venom into or underneath the skin, though creams or capsules of bee venom also exist. The injections function in a way similar to an actual sting, or to acupuncture. Acupuncture prevents pain by blocking the brain and spine paths (opioid and alpha 2 adrenergic receptors) that cause pain. Similarly, a bee sting stimulates the secretion of endorphins, which are a pain relief molecule. Therefore, in Chinese medicine, it is more common to apply the bee venom through acupuncture. In some cases, api-acupuncture is practiced by combining both treatments.

The treatment is started by injecting a small amount of bee venom underneath the skin to see if the patient will respond with an allergic reaction. If no allergic reaction occurs, the treatment is continued with one or two bee stings or injections. The treatment is carried out three times a week, by increasing the number of bee stings and injections each time. The treatment may cause allergic reactions in the patient that result in pain, swelling, itching, redness, or – very rarely – death. Therefore, as with every practice, treatment with bee venom should only be practiced by experts, and should not be tried by inexperienced healers.

As well as rheumatic complaints, bee venom is used for the treatment of arthritis (rheumatoid arthritis), joint calcification (osteoarthritis), bone weakening after climacteric, muscular rheumatism (fibromyalgia), and chronic pain.

In a study conducted with 80 inflamed articular rheumatism patients, 40 of them were treated with bee venom twice a week for two months. The rest of the patients were injected with physiological serum. The first group showed significant improvements on sensitive and inflamed joints, morning stiffness, and pain.

In a similar study, patients with inflamed joint rheumatism were injected with bee venom three times a week for three months, and there was a significant decrease in patient complaints. This study also proved that bee venom can be used for the treatment of inflamed joint rheumatism.

The healing quality of bees has long been noted. If we ruminate on this gift, it’s hard not to admire its wise design.

Original Article: Lieberman, D.E. et al., Nature 463, 531 (2010).

The modern running shoe was not invented until the 1970s. However, the presumption that running barefoot is dangerous and causes pain could be wrong. To explain this phenomenon, scientists studied three groups of people in the United States and Kenya: those who had always run barefoot, those who had always worn shoes, and those who had converted to barefoot running from shod running. They found a striking pattern: the three groups positioned their feet differently; while most shod runner people made initial contact with the ground heel-first (rear-foot striking), barefoot runners used their flat feet (mid-foot striking) or the lateral ball of the feet (fore-foot striking) first. Kinematic and kinetic analyses showed that barefoot runners who used the fore-foot or mid-foot strike generated smaller collision forces than the rear-foot strikers with shoes. This means that it is possible to run barefoot on the world’s hardest surfaces without experiencing the slightest discomfort or pain; all one needs is a few calluses to avoid damaging the skin. It is also clear that running-shoe companies and other footwear designers should pay more attention to how God designed our body and redesign more appropriate shoes for running.

The Molecule with a Thousand Faces

Original Article: Ehre D. et al., Science 327, 672 (2010).

Water freezes at 0 C… or perhaps not? Pure water can remain in liquid form at temperatures down to –40 C, which is known as a “supercooled” state. When agitated by stirring or adding impurities, supercooled water freezes instantly. A team of scientists report that under certain conditions, supercooled water freezes when warmed up (!). Supercooled water can freeze at a higher temperature on a positively-charged surface than it does on a negatively-charged one. Initially, the surface is negatively charged at a lower temperature. The surface becomes positively charged when warmed up and the supercooled liquid water solidifies. Will the day ever come when we will be able to understand the water molecule completely? This is something we just don’t know. What we know for certain though is that water, which is apparently the “most normal” substance around us, has already proven itself ironically as one of the most unusual ones in nature. We take this familiar molecule for granted within our daily routine, but H2O-or water as we know it-still remains a celebrity in the eyes of scientists.

Cancer-Causing DNA Mutations Are Deciphered

Original Articles: Pleasance, E.D. et al., Nature 463, 184 & 191 (2010).

DNA mutations are changes in the DNA code caused by external or internal agents known as mutagens. Scientists have identified mutations from lung cancer and skin cancer and have compared them to normal samples in order to find the mutations that lead to these cancers. They have identified ~23,000 mutations in lung cancer (small-cell lung cancer) and ~33,000 mutations in skin cancer (melanoma). The researchers revealed that most of these mutations are single-base DNA changes, suggesting that they are a direct cause of the carcinogens in tobacco smoke and UV light. Under normal conditions, our cells are equipped with a “DNA repair mechanism” which detects any changes in the DNA code and repairs it. However, when excess amount of mutations occur due to tobacco smoke in our lungs or to too much exposure to sunlight in our skin cells, the DNA repair mechanism cannot repair all of the mutations. Accumulations of these mutations lead to cancer-a state in which cell division has gone out of control. Scientists have calculated that every 15 cigarette causes one mutation in the DNA. These studies will be immensely useful for understanding the reasons behind the genetic changes in cancer and more importantly they will provide a comprehensive catalogue of mutations that can be used for cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Scientists Inspired by the Spider Web

Original Article: Zheng, Y. et al., Nature 463, 640 (2010).

Even though spiders may not be the most appealing creatures living on earth, they are one of the most intriguing predators in the animal kingdom. For centuries the intricate ways that spiders hunt, their (relatively) enormous appetite, their strong senses and extraordinary craftsmanship have been fascinating research topics for scientists. In this study, researchers wondered why and how spider webs become decorated with pearl-like drops of water in humid weather conditions. At nanometric scales, the group revealed that the fibers which constitute the web of Uloborus Walkcenaerius-a non-venomous spider-change conformations after interacting with water. When the web becomes wet the fibers condense into knot-like structures which are distributed evenly along the entire silk. The geometric structure of the web results in surface-energy gradients that drive water particles towards the knots. Concentrating water molecules at the knots may help to keep the rest of the web dry, which is a necessary factor to capture prey. This extraordinary finding has inspired the building of an artificial spider silk, which exploits the same geometric trick, trapping and transporting water droplets. In the near future, such “green” materials could be used in a wide variety of applications, such as filtering substances out of chemical reactions without need for a catalyst.

Self-Sacrificing Mother Yeast Cells

Original Article: Liu, B. et al., Cell 140, 257 (2010).

Humanity has always searched for the fountain of youth. Yet, the process of aging is still a poorly understood concept in biology. How ironic that the budding yeast, a mere single cellular organism, has a fascinating way of keeping its offspring young and healthy. It was previously shown that protein aggregates appear within the cytoplasm of yeast cells as they age. These protein aggregates are thought to be toxic to the cells and thus potential risk factors to both mother and daughter cells. Researchers demonstrated that these aggregates are consistently transported to the mother cell, thereby allowing the daughter cells to make a fresh start to life. Polymerizing actin filaments, which are nucleated from the polarisome in the daughter cell, bind to these aggregates and push them towards the mother cell cytoplasm. In addition to being an amazing biological process, these self-sacrificing mother cells which keep their offspring healthy form a controversial issue. The common understanding in biology is that all organisms struggle for their own survival. However, why a simple organism like yeast prefers to have a healthy daughter cell and to jeopardize its own life is unclear and shows the existence of a mother’s mercy, even at the single-cell level.

Honey Bee Collapses

Original Article: Ratnieks, F.L.W. & Carreck, N.L., Science 327, 152 (2010).

Throughout history an extensive loss of honey bee colonies has occurred in many different locations; however, in North America, particularly after 2006, there has been an increase in the disappearance of adult honey bees from hives, in which they abandon their food and brood; this has been coined a “Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD). The most likely cause of the syndrome is seen to be the presence of a parasitic mite Varroa destructor. It is not the mite that causes bee death, but rather the number of bee viruses which it carries, such as the Israeli acute paralysis virus; it was previously thought that these were insignificant to honey bee biology. It has also been suggested that CCD is not caused by a previously unknown pathogen, but rather a combination of factors, which only have subtle effects on bee health if considered separately. The health of honeybee colonies is vital for agriculture. In 2000, the total U.S. crop value wholly dependent on honey bee pollination was estimated to exceed $15 billion. The sudden disappearance of honey bees and the complexity of the causes behind CCD remind us of the delicate balance that exists in nature.

Once the heart has found You,

Would it ever remember another?

Once it has burned in Your fire,

Would it ever burn in another?

Only those who have found You

Are purified in an incessant flow;

Satisfied with Your love,

Would they ever be content with another?

You gave being to the universe,

All life emanates from You.

Having found Your ocean,

Would they ever dive into another?

Your Name is recited everywhere;

It is the cure for the ailments of the soul.

Once having truly believed in You,

Would they ever assume their Lord to be another?

Absorbed in awe at Your beauty,

On the path of love,

Once having tasted the honey from Your comb,

Would they ever taste another?

Once having discovered You,

Hastening towards and meeting You,

Having entered Your sanctuary,

Would they ever seek another?

The apple

Most people think of an apple as a perfect example of beauty, joy, and health. Indeed, the apple is endowed with a shape that is appealing to the human eye, a beautiful range of colors, a pleasant taste and a long list of health benefits for humans. These , (1) containing two types of fibers that work in tandem to lower blood cholesterol levels, (2) helping to prevent heart disease, (3) cancer-protective activity, (4) helping remove toxic substances, such as lead and mercury from the blood, and (5) helping to reduce the risk of kidney stones. A major survey published in the May 2004 issue of the Nutrition Journal provided a review of 85 studies and identified a number of health benefits of apples, including the ability to reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, asthma, and type II diabetes when compared to other fruits and vegetables. In addition, eating apples has also been associated with increased lung function and increased weight loss.1

Now consider all these benefits and look at how we get apples. An apple tree knows nothing about humans. An apple knows nothing about the human visual system, tastes, or body functions. How is it then that an apple is so appealing and beneficial for humans?

Honey

Honey is one of the substances produced by honeybees. In addition to being a nutritive sweetener, medical research has also found that the unique composition of honey makes it useful as an antimicrobial agent and antioxidant. These effects are due to a substance called “propolis,” which the honeybees make by combining tree sap with their own secretions. They use propolis as an anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal substance to protect the honeycomb. It has been found that propolis contains well-researched anti-cancer substances, such as caffeic acid methyl caffeate, phenylethyl caffeate, and phenylethyl dimethylcaffeate. Daily consumption of honey raises the levels of protective antioxidant compounds in the blood level in humans, according to research presented at the 227th meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, CA, March 28, 2004.2 Furthermore, researchers have discovered that these substances in propolis prevent colon cancer in animals.3 New studies are also looking into honey as an agent for increasing athletic performance and as a wound-healing agent. Honey has been a popular traditional remedy for many medical conditions.

Now consider these benefits of honey and how we obtain honey: Honeybees know nothing about humans. In fact, if they are agitated, they may sting humans and sometimes cause their death. The honey they make, however, has so many healing benefits that honey has been used in many foods, herbal supplements and, beauty products. The same question comes to mind: How did this come to be?

Milk

Milk is produced by mammals. In particular, cows, sheep, and goats produce milk that is consumed in many cultures.

Cow’s milk, for example, and the dairy products derived from it, promote strong bones by being a very good source of vitamin D and calcium, and a good source of vitamin K-three nutrients essential to bone health. Calcium has long been recognized for its role in building healthy bones. This is not the only benefit of calcium, however. Recent studies have shown other benefits such as helping protect colon cells from cancer-causing chemicals, helping prevent the bone loss that can occur as a result of menopause or certain conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, and helping to prevent migraine headaches in those who suffer from them.

Other essential nutrients in milk include iodine, a mineral essential for thyroid function, riboflavin and vitamin B12, which are necessary for cardiovascular health and energy production, vitamin A, a critical nutrient for immune function, and potassium, a nutrient important for cardiovascular health.4 Researchers have found that a beneficial fatty acid called CLA inhibited several types of cancer in mice. Test tube studies also indicated that this compound kills human skin cancer, colorectal cancer and breast-cancer cells. There are other indications of benefits of CLA, such as helping lower cholesterol and prevent atherosclerosis.(5)

The cow, the sheep, and the goat know nothing about humans. They do not know how our body functions or what our sense of taste is. Yet, the milk they produce serves as a tasty and healthy food. The same question arises: How did this come to be?

Humans also produce other nutritious foods from milk, such as cheese and yogurt. Yogurt is particularly interesting because it is made with the help of beneficial bacteria called L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus. Everyone has bacteria inside their bodies; especially in the stomach and intestines where food is broken up and digested. Eating yogurt encourages the beneficial types of bacteria to multiply in your digestive track, helping protect the system against harmful microorganisms that cause stomach upsets and infection. Some people cannot drink milk due to lactose intolerance, yet they can consume yogurt. The emerging health benefits of yogurt include boosting the immune system, lowering serum cholesterol, and helping in the prevention and management of certain cancers. In addition, yogurt is a good source of protein, calcium, potassium, vitamins B12, and riboflavin.

Now let us turn to the two perspectives that explain, or attempt to explain, how these health-giving substances reach us: The “bounty” perspective and the “chance” perspective. Let us explore these two perspectives in more detail. First, the bounty perspective.

The bounty perspective

The bounty perspective suggests that the delicious and beneficial foods we enjoy in this world are bounties of a God with infinite knowledge and wisdom.(6, 7) God knows us because He has created us. He knows what benefits us and what harms us. He loves us and He wants to show us His love through signs. The bounties, which include foods among others, are designed to benefit us and appeal to us. In return for these bounties, He expects us to recognize Him as our Lord, our Creator, and Sustainer. He expects us to feel thankful to Him and to express our thanks through worship.

The basis for the bounty perspective can be found in the scriptures of the Abrahamic religions, Judaism and Christianity, as well as in the Qur’an. The first example is from the Bible: Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if received with thanksgiving (1 Tim. 4). Another example, from David’s Psalms as they appear in the Bible states: Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. (Psalms, 100). A striking example from the works of St. Paul is the following:

And so He gathered together a people for Himself, and fostered them with many liberal distributions of His bounty, and, after so often finding them most ungrateful, ever exhorted them to repentance and sent out the voices of the universal company of the prophets to prophesy.

The sixth chapter of the Qur’an is entitled “Cattle,” and mentions some benefits of domesticated animals, as well as dispersing some myths and false beliefs about them:

And of cattle (He created) beasts of burden and those which are fit for slaughter only; eat of what God has given you and do not follow the footsteps of the Satan; surely he is your manifest enemy. (An’am 6:142)

The following Qur’anic verses mention cattle and milk explicitly:

And God has sent down water from the cloud and therewith given life to the earth after its death; most surely there is a sign in this for a people who would listen. And most surely there is a lesson for you in the cattle; We give you to drink of what is in their bellies-from between the feces and the blood-pure milk, easy and agreeable to swallow for those who drink. And of the fruits of the palms and the grapes-you obtain from them intoxication and goodly provision; most surely there is a sign in this for a people who ponder. (Nahl 16:65-67)

In the following verse, the honeybee is mentioned by name, as well as the various semi-liquid substances that they produce, including honey:

And your Lord revealed to the bee saying: Make hives in the mountains and in the trees and in what they build: Then eat of all the fruits and walk in the ways of your Lord submissively. There comes forth from within it a beverage of many colors, in which there is healing for men; most surely there is a sign in this for a people who reflect. (Nahl 16:68-69)

The chance perspective

The chance perspective is based on Darwin’s theory of evolution, where there is no place for a merciful God.9, 10 It attributes the phenomenon of these health-giving foods to chance working with natural selection over time. It asserts that early humans or their supposed ancestors have experienced a random mutation (a change in the genetic code), which caused some of them to like apples. Those who liked apples ate them and benefited in turn. These benefits have given them a competitive advantage over others who did not like apples. Those who liked apples were able to survive better under difficult circumstances and produced more offspring than others. Through many generations, those humans who did not like apples have disappeared and today almost all humans enjoy and benefit from apples.

Consequences

The consequences of the two perspectives are completely different. If all health-giving natural products are loved for themselves, if they are thoughtlessly delighted in only for the material pleasures that they yield, that love is merely the love of self. Also, those pleasures are transient and bring pain. People with this perspective are likely to be selfish, stingy, and wasteful. But, if they are loved as favors proceeding from Almighty God’s mercy and as fruits of His munificence, and if pleasure is obtained from them with good judgment by appreciating the degree of kindness in that munificence and favor, then this is both gratitude and is a pain-free pleasure. People with this perspective are likely to be thankful, prudent, and caring for those who are in need.

To better understand the difference in the nature and consequences of these two perspectives let us consider the following parable 11:

If a mighty king were to bestow a gift on you, such as an apple, there would be two joys in that apple for you. The first of these is that the apple would be loved because it is an apple, and there would be a pleasure peculiar to and to the extent of the apple. This love does not concern the king. A person, who puts the apple to his mouth and eats it in the king’s presence, without offering his appreciation to the king, loves the apple itself and his own soul rather than the king. The king is likely not to be pleased with this person’s attitude, despite the fact that he enjoys the apple. Moreover, the pleasure that the apple gives is very limited and passes quickly. After the apple is eaten it is gone, only regret remains.

As for the second kind of joy, it is for the royal favor that is demonstrated by means of the apple. One who holds the apple precious, as if it were the sample and embodiment of a royal favor, shows that he loves his king. Moreover, the pleasure in that fruit, which is a sort of container for the favor, is such that it is far greater than the pleasure obtained from a thousand apples. This pleasure, then, is the essence of thankfulness. This love is a respectful love for the king.

Conclusion

We have presented two explanations for the phenomenon of the presence of health-giving foods in nature and for the abundance of appealing and beneficial food on Earth, such as apples, honey, and milk that are produced by plants and animals that know nothing about humans. The bounty explanation asserts that these are the bounties of a Merciful and Infinitely-Wise Creator who expects us to recognize these as bounties and be thankful to Him. The chance perspective attributes this situation to random mutations and natural selection working over time. Because God works through laws in this world, we cannot see His hand of mercy in action with the eyes in our heads. However, can we see signs of this mercy with the eyes in our heart? This is a challenge for the inquisitive mind.

That is God, your Lord, there is no god but He; the Creator of all things, therefore serve Him, and He has charge of all things. Vision comprehends Him not, and He comprehends (all) vision; and He is the Knower of subtleties, the Aware. Indeed there have come to you clear proofs from your Lord; whoever will therefore see, it is for his own soul and whoever will be blind, it shall be against himself and I am not a keeper over you. (An’am 6:102-104) 

References

1. Mateljan, George, Healthier Eating Guide and Cookbook, Health Valley Foods, 1987.
2. Mateljan, George, “The World’s Healthiest Foods,” on the web at http://www.whfoods.com/.
3. Mateljan, Healthier Eating Guide and Cookbook.
4. Mateljan, “The World’s Healthiest Foods.”
5. ibid.
6. Nursi, S., The Words, Kaynak A.S., Izmir, Turkey, 1997.
7. Abdel Haleem, M.A.S., (trans.), “Chance or Creation,” original attributed to al-Jahiz (AD 776-869), Garnet Publishing, Berkshire, UK, 1995.
8. Pao, D., “Thanksgiving: An Investigation of a Pauline Theme,” New Studies in Biblical Theology 13, Apollos-Intervarsity Press, 2002.
9. Darwin, C., Charles Darwin’s Letters: A Selection 1825-1859, Cambridge University Press, NY, 1996.
10. Boyd, R., How Human Evolved, W.W. Norton & Co., 2002.
11. Nursi, The Words. 

It is hard to find another theory that has been so discredited by scientists, and yet is still believed in by so many people, as Darwinism.

The collapse of communism shows that “East” and “West” was a geographical-not a cultural-divide, and no more than a variation within Western culture. The Western attitude to religion, derived from Rousseau (d. 1778) and Renan (d. 1892), considers religion a socially necessary myth, a delusion providing some cultural and social cohesion to collective life, and as unreal as a dream. The Eastern (communist) attitude, an explicit rejection of religion in favor of materialism, gave Darwinism a more deliberate, institutional support.

In broad terms, however, modern Western culture is predicated upon Darwinism. Promoters of Western culture continue to represent Darwinism as established scientific truth and, by implication, religion as unscientific and false. Inevitably, some young people are influenced. Many begin to believe (though far fewer continue to believe) that religion is opposed to reason, and that Darwin’s theory is the best that reason can do.

Within the scope of this brief session, I will touch upon several major points.

Unresolved Issues

According to Darwin, life originated from simple single-celled organisms that gave rise to multicellular organisms through a process of gradual change, along with random mutations, over millions of years. According to more developed forms of evolutionary theory, all living things came from amino acids within water, and later became single-celled organisms. By interacting with each other and the immediate environment for billions of years, either gradually or suddenly they evolved into complex multicellular animals. Invertebrates gave rise to aquatic vertebrates, which evolved into amphibians, which became reptiles. Later on, some reptiles evolved into birds, while others evolved into mammals and culminated, eventually, in humanity.

The evidence usually consists of several incomplete pieces of fossils. But even the actual fossil record does not support this view. To our knowledge, no other scientific hypothesis is sustained on the basis of so many-and so important-missing links. Consider the following: Despite many varieties, bacteria have not evolved into anything different and higher, though they adapt very quickly. Cockroaches and insects remain unchanged after almost 350 million years. Fruit flies, arthropoda, sponges, sea crabs, snakes, lizards, mice, and many other species did not evolve over hundreds of millions of years. Scientists have found bees and honey from millions of years ago. Those bees produced honey and built honeycombs just as they do today, and use the same geometrical measures. So, for that whole expanse of time neither the bee’s brain and physiological structure nor the way it produces honey have changed. Human beings are exactly the same as they have been since their creation.

Scientists have found no transitional organisms, such as an animal that has evolved its front legs partly into wings for the transition to flight. There is not even a theoretical explanation, given that such transitions are supposed to take thousands of generations, of how such transitional animals-lacking four good legs, and still not equipped with two good legs and a pair of wings-could survive.

The “evolution” of a small five-toed dog-like mammal into the modern horse with one toe (hoof) is often mentioned. But where is the evidence? No such fossil series has ever been found. In the absence of any concrete connection between the two, how can we consider it the horse’s ancestor? This is the very opposite of reliable scientific argument and procedure. We say that God created such an animal and that it later became extinct. Why do we need to connect these two species? Even today horses of different sizes and species coexist.

What about humanity’s evolution? The evidence consists of some discovered bones or teeth, from which scientists —reconstruct— what the person looked like. During 1910-12, a neo-Darwinist claimed to have found the missing link.1 His claim stood until 1953-54, when scientists finally denounced it for the fraud that it was and saved their community’s dignity. Evolutionists used to mention the coelacanth, a fish abundant 400 million years ago, as a link between fish and land animals because of its limb-like fins. They theorized that this fish lurched onto land in search of food, staying there longer and longer until—about 70 million years ago—it disappeared from the fossil record. But in 1938, local fishermen caught several dozen coelacanths off Madagascar. As they showed no signs of evolution, they were quietly dropped by many textbooks from the list of evidences of evolution.

Evolutionists also claim that organisms evolve through random mutations. Mutations occur if the genetic code, normally identical in all of the organism’s cells, is copied differently or mistakenly while new cells are being formed. Such changes, which —bear evolutionary fruit— gradually over a long period, may be caused by such external agents as geography and climate, changes in the sun’s or Earth’s rotation, or by radiation and chemical pollution. The argument is that non-lethal mutations that successfully adapt to changes in their immediate environments function like sudden evolutionary —jumps— and engender species variation. But recent work in genetics and biochemistry prove that mutations are predominantly harmful, even lethal, and the cause of many physiological disorders. In any case, they cannot account for the appearance of new species, for the universe has not existed long enough to allow such randomness to evolve and then establish a new species. Scientists have studied pigeons, dogs, and flies for years. Although some physiological changes occur within the same species, such adaptive evolution within species does not prove the evolution of species. Hybrids are obtained by artificially crossing two species, such as a horse and a donkey, but the resultant hybrid (a mule) is typically sterile. After long research, scientists have concluded that certain barriers between the species cannot be overcome. This conforms to ordinary sense, known facts, and scientific reasoning. How could a human being, possessed of an extraordinarily sophisticated brain, the ability for linguistic and cultural expression as well as of religious belief and aspiration, have evolved from an ape? Belief in such a notion is amazing.

What Darwinism Implies

As Marx and Engels asserted, accepting evolution is a major pillar of materialism—and of historical materialism in particular. Materialists cling to it as other people cling to blind faith, prejudice, or superstition. Insisting that material causes can explain everything, they deny any supra-natural, metaphysical agency that intervenes in the world to make it so wonderfully abundant, prolific, diverse and, within stable forms, so marvellously adaptive and versatile in response to local environmental possibilities. The alternative to evolution is design. This necessarily leads to the concept of a transcendent and unitary power, the Designer-Creator: God. The reason for Darwinism’s continuing tyranny is the fear that acknowledging the Creator will collapse the edifice of autonomous science and autonomous human reason. Scientists might believe, but science must be atheistic. Ironically, Darwinists (and materialists generally) defy or ignore facts, and deny or belittle logic and reason to preserve the illusion of independent human reason. It is to the credit of the scientific community that, in ever greater numbers, individual scientists question and challenge Darwinism.

That said, some young people believe in Darwinism because it is official dogma and in all textbooks. How true and apt is the Turkish proverb—a half-wit can easily throw a pearl into a well, and 40 wise men vainly struggle to retrieve it. Nonetheless, no lie can survive forever. The origin of the species and their major divisions is not yet understood. Is it too humiliating for us to admit that we do not know everything? How can we not marvel at the origin of intelligent speech, ideation, abstraction, symbolization, culture, love of beauty and variety, consciousness, altruism, morality, religion, and spiritual aspiration? Darwin was a great and gifted scientist who must be credited for his work in ordering and classifying the species and on adaptation. However, he specialized in observing and understanding what was there in nature. Whatever his own intentions, his work, like every reliable scientific advance, confirms the Divine Architect, the All-Mighty Power, Sustainer, Administrator, Who willed the marvellous organization, reliable, systematic, subtly integrated harmony of nature’s operations, and combined that order with beauty. Although Darwin’s work increases our faith in God, it led him into error. How great and sublime is the Creator. Order, understanding, and wisdom are by His gift. Likewise, guidance is absolutely in His grasp.

Footnote

1 The author is referring to Piltdown Man, which was —discovered— in 1910-12 and exposed as a fraud in 1953-54. The perpetrator had joined together a 600-year-old human cranium, an orang utang’s jaw and teeth, and possibly a chimpanzee’s tooth, and then aged this fabrication by physical and chemical means. (Ed.)

A few hours ago I was in another, more suffocating place, together with sixty or so sisters of mine, sisters-to-be. We all set out on a journey. Passing through a corridor to which doors are opened from hundreds of cells such as those we had just left and into which eggs like me were rolling, we reached a crossroads. At just that point, something very agile and smaller even than me entered into me. A little later I found myself within the six walls of a cell.

If you could become so small as a particle of air, you would be astonished at what you see. Molecules compete in me: they combine and separate from one another, take on new forms, curve and move here and there. In short, I am being prepared for a new life; whatever will be necessary for this life is encoded in me. I have begun to be equipped with such information as would take you many years to acquire.

Day 4 – I am no longer an egg, and not yet a honeybee. I have left my shell, and now look like a worm. I am called a larva. You will be amazed to learn that I have completed the age of my education. While you are first born and then learn, we first learn and then are born. All the information I will use during my life has been encoded in the brain within my head. Now I am busy eating to grow so as to make use of this information. All the food I need reaches me continually as if pouring down from the sky.

Day 5 – I had 1300 meals yesterday. I am constantly eating. I must eat another 10.000 meals. I eat a sort of jelly extremely rich in vitamins and proteins and prepared by our elder sisters. Although it is the prerogative of the queen bee to eat this jelly, it is given also to us in this period of our growth. I have grown five times heavier than yesterday. My head is more visible, and the three sections of my future body. My antennae are about to appear, but my legs have not yet begun to do so. There are ten air- holes around my body through which I breathe. My stomach is still in the form of a closed sac.

Day 6 – It was a little cool last night. All the bees in the hive crowded onto the comb and throbbed to produce heat. We need a temperature of about 35 C if we are to grow. As well as feeding us, it is again our elder sisters who ensure we are warm enough. When it is cool, they throb to warm us; when it is too hot, they cool us by beating their wings.

Day 7 – Our menu has changed today. In place of the jelly-liked food, we are given a food prepared with honey and pollen. I have grown so fat that I nearly cover more than half of my cell.

Day 9 – They have stopped giving us food. They have covered the ceiling of my cell with wax. However, I do not feel forsaken in the cell. I feel there is someone who is caring for all my needs. It is as if He whispered to me that it is He Who always feeds me and that I simply do not need feeding for a certain time.

Day 10- It is as if the One Who whispered to me yesterday, whispered again that He has installed silk ‘machines’ in my head and that I should set them to operate. My secretion glands get to work and thin threads of silk come out of my mouth. I knit a silk cocoon around me. This is the first thing I have done since the beginning of my life. I am not called a larva any more, but a pupa.

Day 15 – (your May 20) – Over the last week I have grown to look more like a bee. My eyes and antennae have started to appear. My head has grown. The first section of my abdomen has been added to my chest. My wings and three pairs of legs continue to grow out from my body.

Day 20 – I am a perfectly- formed honeybee. I have a head with antennae, eyes, a tongue, jaws, and legs, wings and a sting. I am a female bee; my brain is bigger than that of either the queen bee or the male bees. My legs and wings are fixed to my body and made up of many muscles. My abdomen has been arranged in a way to do the tasks of both digestion and secretion.

Day 21 – I was ordered to leave my cell. I opened the seal with my jaws and went out. I am looking at my environment. My home that I see for the first time is not strange to me. I do know what I am to do but I need some time to adjust my body to my tasks.

I see some other bees also leaving their cells. They must be my sisters that started the journey of their lives at the same time as I did. Cells are opened and as the new bees clamber out, the comb resembles a place of gathering.

My legs work but as yet my four wings do not. I stand on my feet with claws which have sticking organs. I keep my balance by means of the hairs on my body which inform my brain of the position of the parts of my body according to the gravitation.

The lower parts of my front legs will serve as a brush to remove from my eyes the dust which will stick to them as I fly around flowers. On the same front legs I also have other stick-like brushes to clean my antennae. I have instruments on my middle legs to collect the wax I will secrete from my body. There are sacs on my back legs to store the pollen that I am to collect.

I look at my sisters and see on the upper part of their heads three tiny eyes and two larger ones on their sides. The tiny eyes see polarized light, while the larger ones are sensitive to ultraviolet rays. We bees cannot see red. We cannot see the environment crisply delineated, we see it as a dim design of colours. We see most distinctly at the distance of touching.

Whatever I will need has all been installed in my body. I have a tongue to suck water and nectar, and antenae to touch and smell and a sting to defend myself. In addition, I have an environment to live in comfortably. All this cannot have been arranged by the things themselves around me. I did not arrange it myself. So, there must be One Who knows both me, my needs and my environment and Who brings me into existence for the tasks I am to do. He must have infinite knowledge and power.

I am starting to work today. We work according to a strict division of labour. What falls on me today is to do cleaning. Our comb is perfectly clean and tidy.

Day 22 – I have continued to do cleaning. I know my hive and sisters better than before. We have a very crowded population, we are about 40.000 bees. About 1500 new sisters have joined us today.

We can measure the length of days and know the coming of summer. Summer is coming.

Day 23 – Today I have been promoted to nurse. I am looking after larvae of 4-6 days. I partly digest in my stomach some of the food brought to me by elder bees and make bread of honey to feed the larvae.

Day 24 – A new factory has started to work in my body today. I have just begun using a secretion gland in my throat.

Thousands of elder bees offer us the pollen they collect and honey they make and we thousands of younger bees, crowd around cells and feed the larvae. A perfect mutual helping prevails in our comb.

Day 26 – I am extremely busy. I make royal jelly using the gland I began working two days ago and offer it to the larvae which eat 1300 meals a day. As you remember, I was also fed this when I was a larva.

Day 29 – (your June 3) – The larvae I am feeding today are of a different kind. They are in cells a little bigger than ours. It will take 26 days for them to leave their cells as male bees.

Day 30 – I have been promoted to cook. I make honey from the nectar my elders collect from flowers and store it in cells.

The honey I make is composed of water, sucrose and glucose and is very rich in vitamins. It contains enzymes to digest carbo-hydrates. It is very delicious and healthful. Some part of the honey I make may come to your table one day. I will have died by the time you are eating it. You have no obligation at all to remember me, but do not forget the One Who provides you with it through me and thank Him.

Day 32 – Thousands of bees die in our comb every day and other thousands are born. This happens in so orderly a way that no confusion is seen.

There is one among us without whom it is impossible for things to be in order in our comb-the queen. She is a bit larger than us and was programmed to do things different from what we do. She cannot collect nectar nor make honey, nor feed the larvae. She cannot feed herself either. We, her daughters, feed her with the royal jelly we offer to the young larvae.

The queen bee lays eggs. She must lay around 2000 eggs every day, for our lifespan is very short. While we are feeding her, she lets us taste from a substance she produces. We go round the comb and so cause all female bees to taste that substance by which a kind of birthcontrol is secured in the comb. On the day we do not taste it, we all begin to lay eggs. Since those eggs are not fertilized, only male bees come from them. Male bees have no task other than inseminating the queen bee. Their number is quite limited. If they were to be too many, the order in our comb would collapse.

Day 35 – A new factory has started to work in my body today. This factory installed in the back, lower part of my abdomen produces wax. I collect that wax with the sticks on my middle legs and chew it to mould it into the cells of the comb.

The cells we make are hexagonal in shape, because, compared with the amount of the wax used to build them, as much honey as possible can be stored in them. Also, a hexagonal form is most resistant to external forces. We make 35 thousand cells from half a kilo of wax and store 10 kilos of honey in them. We need three and a half kilos of honey to make half a kilo of wax.

We make cells in different forms according to need. While making them, we take gravitation into account. For example, the cells where the female worker bees lie horizontally form a vertical layer, while the cells where future queen bees lie vertically are parallel to the earth surface. The cells where male bees grow are bigger than those of the females. As you certainly understand, it is impossible for us and for any other things in nature, including what some of you call natural forces, to know and arrange all these things. There must be One Who does it. One Who knows us together with our relation with our environment and employs us in many important tasks.

Day 37 – (your June 11)- So far, I have left my comb on many occasions but only to throw out the waste matter and had opportunities to see the outer world from afar. Today I left my comb but not to discard waste but to fly around the comb, to obtain knowledge of the outer world.

Flying is very tiring for us. Unlike birds, we do not flap wings. When we start to fly, our wings move automatically in a way to make 250 complete turns in a second. While flying, our front and back wings are bound to each other.

When we start to fly, our wings curve along certain lines in a way to adjust our body to the air current. They draw a figure-of-8 shape in the air. In proportion to the size of our wings, our bodies are heavy (unlike birds which fly). They grow heavier when we collect nectar from flowers. Despite this, we can fly 15 kilometres an hour.

Like our flying, our landing is also miraculous. Unlike birds and your planes, we do not need to decrease our speed before we land. Thanks to the tips of our legs, while flying in the air, we can immediate- my alight wherever we want.

Since our wings move at extremely high speed, our need for fuel is high. Our muscles have a metabolic rate ten times faster than the heart of a man. We consume sugar as fuel. Before we start a journey, we take enough ‘fuel’. However, if the amount of sugar in our blood reduces to 1 per cent, we obtain new food wherever we are.

Day 38 – My new task is keeping guard at the entrance of the comb. No one, not even other bees, are allowed to tenter our comb. We know one another by our smell. The smell of each community of honeybees is different. Our antennae distinguish between the smells very well. The entrance of our comb is also marked with the smell particular to our community. Any other creature which does not carry our semll is prevented from entering.

Day 39 – There have been some changes in the comb. The cells of about a dozen larvae have been made bigger and turned vertical. The larvae in them will be fed with royal jelly until they become pupae.

The queen bee has accelerated laying eggs. She lays about 2000 eggs a day.

Day 41 – Now I am a fully mature honeybee. I will no longer do the housework because the factories in my body producing royal jelly and wax have stopped. From now, I will spend my days collecting nectar from flowers.

Today it was my first flight outside. When I flew far away from the comb, I found myself surrounded by a design of colours. The scents coming from all around nearly caused me to faint. Flowers attract us by their colours and smells. They have structures arranged as if to serve as platforms for our landing. When we land on them, we pass our tongues into the source of nectar in their centres. Meanwhile pollen from the flowers clings to the hairs on our bodies giving them the look of prickly sticks. We leave some of this pollen on other flowers we visit and thereby assist i the pollination of flowers. But for this service we perform, you would not enjoy the benefit from fruit-bearing trees such as peach, apple, pear, almond and plum.

We do not visit flowers at random. Whatever kind of flowers we visit first, we continue to visit the same kind in the same environment. If we did otherwise we would be carrying pollen of other kinds of flowers and therefore waste the pollen, uselessly.

We are mostly attracted by blue. However, we also visit flowers of other colours except red. Red flowers do business with butterflies.

We do not see flowers in the same colour as you see them. Only the nectar containing central parts of the flowers you see as yellow appear to us as yellow to attract us to you see as white appear to us as coloured. In short, when we go on a journey to collect nectar, we do not look for them. Flowers themselves smile to us and attract us.

Day 42 – I have spent today also among flowers. If you had followed, you would have seen that I visited around twenty flowers in a minute and as many as 20,000 by evening. I stored the nectar in my stomach and the pollen in the sacs on my back legs.

Since our return is difficult because of our load, we follow a direct way called the line of bees. Even if we pass through places unknown to us, we always follow that direct way. It is extremely easy for us to establish it. The place and position of the sun gives us our direction, Of course, the sun has changed position while we are visiting flowers. That is no matter at all. You cannot compete with us when it comes to calculating the exact place and position of the sun at any time of the day. If you kept me in a dark place and then released me hours later, it would not take me more than a few moments to find my direction. We use the atmospheric polarization and find the place of the sun by means of any little light coming from any corner of the sky. We have been doing this calculation for millions of years but you have come to know it only in the last forty years.

We cannot make our way only on completely dark days and therefore we do not go out on those days. We stay in and are busy with the work in the comb.

Day 44 – We are a big anonymous company with its tens of thousands of partners and personnel, agents, boards of directors, awesone storage and processing establishments and a well-developed communications network. We pursue big markets to do business.

We do big business. Many other insects, flies and butterflies visit the flowers with which we do business. However, when we find a profitable source, we rush toward it as an army of 10 or 20 or 30 thousand bees.

Five per cent of our population are responsible for finding a market. They constantly search big markets and we evaluate the markets they have found. If, for example, one of our friends finds a market of one million flowers in the morning, you will see their nectar and pollen transferred into our depots in a few hours.

Our communication system works perfectly. Let me describe this to you with an example.

It was nearly noon. One of the elder bees entered the hive in great excitement. Other grown-up bees crowded around it.

From the smell of the pollen on its body we could understand what kind of a source it had found. We tasted the nectar it threw up onto the comb from its mouth. It was a bit more watery than it should be. However, we had to take into account the heat outside and the fact that that sample had been collected in early morning. The amount of sugar in nectar in morning hours is less than at other times. In short, the kind and quality of the nectar seemed OK. But we did not yet know the location of the source and whether it was a rich site, nor how far away it was.

Our friend immediately began to dance. A few bees near it and I held on to it to follow its movements. While dancing, it uttered some sounds which meant that the source was rich, and drew a figure 8 over the comb, completing a turn in 15 seconds, which meant that the source was 10 kilometres away. Our friend was dancing according to gravitation. While drawing the line in the middle of 8, it made an angle of 28 to the right. Since we always take the sun to be at an angle of 90, the source our friend described was 62 to the right of the sun.

The information our friend gave to us was for a still, windless day. However, it was windy when we left the hive and therefore, taking into account the direction and strength of the wind, we corrected the angle given to us.

Day 47 – Our population has recently increased. We are about 60.000 bees. Our hive is not enough to accommodate all of us. Preparations made over the preceding few weeks mean that some of us will move to another place.

Day 50 – (your June 25) – Male bees have left their cells in which they had been fed for some time. For the time being, they have nothing to do in the hive.

About a dozen larvae have been specially fed for some weeks. We feed in this way more larvae than needed. The first among them to leave its cell becomes the queen and, since there cannot be more than one queen in a hive, she immediately seeks out the cells where other candidates are and destroys them.

The new queen will spend the first few days of her life eating honey to gain strength. Afterwards, she will set off on the mating flight. During this flight which lasts a few days, she will store up in a special section in her body the sperms she will have taken from six or so male bees in sufficient amount to fertilize the one million or so eggs she will lay during her life. If the hive needs male bees, the queen closes the mouth of that section and the eggs she lays pass into the cells of the comb prepared for the male bees without being inseminated.

Two days after her return from the mating, she begins to lay eggs.

Day 51 – Today at noon, about 15,000 of us, left our hive. Before departure, we filled our stomachs fully with honey. We will use it to build the comb in our new home.

It was a great responsibility. If we made a mistake in choosing the site of a new home, it might result in the end of the community.

We made a detailed search of all the places that looked suitable for a new home.

Returning to the cluster, we began to dance to inform one another about the places we had found. A consultative system prevails in bee communities. No one forces its opinion upon others. So, we follow carefully each other’s dance. If the idea of one among us seems to another better than its own, it copies that one’s dance. In this way, as the dance spreads, a consensus is formed.

The hole or opening we prefer for home must be of a volume of at least 15 litres. For we must put by at least ten kilos of honey for winter. We do not choose openings of a volume of more than 100 litres, for it is almost impossible to heat them. The entrance must be at least two metres above the ground and face south. The home must be dry, without wet. If any moisture leaks through the walls, we cover them with the resin of trees. We do not decide on a place after a single search. We repeat searches several times to be certain of the suitability of a particular site.

Day 52 – As yesterday, today too, we could not agree on a particular site to establish our new home.

Day 53 – We have found two other places. After comparisons and new researches, we have been pleased with two of them.

Day 54 – We found new places today. Many of the surveyors began to dance the same dance but unanimity was not achieved.

Day 55 – We have to make a choice. If we fail to reach an agreement, though it happens rarely, we will end up making our home in a bush. This means death.

We have looked at 29 possible sites, of which we have chosen one to the south-east after a last visit to it of the explorers. We rushed into the cluster of bees who have been waiting for days. They were as if dead. Slowly, we managed to move them. First they began movements to get warm. The temperature of the muscles has to reach 36 C. At last, a humming began. Those which had got warm enough began leaving the cluster. In a minute all the bees took flight. When they had formed a cylinder with a diameter of 10 metres, we advanced to the front to lead the others. Flying at a speed of more than 10 kilometres an hour, we reached our new home. Before entering, we marked the entrance with the smell of our community.

First we cleaned the site of all the rubbish and then covered the fissures with the resin we collected from trees. Afterwards, we began to build a comb. The pioneering columns scattered round to collect nectar. A new community of beas has been established by the end of the day.

Day 58 – It is very hot. Some among us have set up an air-condition system at the entrance of the hive. They cool the hive by moving their wings.

I left the pioneering column. I collect water driblets and carry them to the hive.

Day 60 – I am old and worn out, ready to retire. Besides the tasks I did in the hive, I have flown more than 2000 kilometers to provide you with the best of food, as it is ordered and inspired in me by my Creator:

You Lord inspired in the bee: Build your homes in hills, on trees, and in what they (men) construct. Then eat of all the produce (fruit and flowers of the earth), and set out on the ways of your Lord submissively (to Him). From their stomachs issues a drink of varying colours, wherein is healing for men. Surely in this a sign for those who reflect. (Qur’an, 16.68-9)

I have produced 50 grams of honey. Do not despise this for we, the population of a hive, make 200,000 flights a day and produce one kilo of honey. You, all human beings, could not produce or make even a single gram of it even if you all helped one another.

We make honey for your benefit but do not expect any return for it. We fulfill our duty of servant hood to our Creator. It is He Who employs us to offer to you the best of food by means of us. So, you must know Him and thank Him.