Researchers selectively silenced neural circuits associated with the doublesex gene in older honeybee workers and caused them to resume queen-care duties normally performed by younger bees.
The result links age-dependent task allocation to competition and information exchange among specialised brain circuits. Colony organisation therefore appears to emerge from many workers whose internal behavioural states change over time, rather than from instructions issued by a central coordinator or a fixed colony-wide work plan.
https://phys.org/news/2026-07-bee-brains-reveal-colonies-central.html
