Friday, February 22, 2013

Electrified Bees: Charged Flowers (audio)

Wisdom Quarterly (DN 31); Adam Cole, NPR.org
Bee is electrically charged harmlessly drawing pollen and sweet nectar (smart-kit.com)
 
Flowers are nature's ad men. They'll do anything to attract the attention of the pollinators that help them reproduce. 
 
That means spending precious energy on bright pigments, enticing fragrances, and dazzling patterns. Now, scientists have found another element that contributes to flowers' brand: their distinct electric field.
 
Anne Leonard, who studies bees at the University of Nevada, says our understanding of pollinator-flower communication has been expanding for decades.

"Flowers do a lot of things you might not expect," Leonard says. "We observe they have these distinct bright, beautiful colors, patterns, scents."

But we don't often stop to consider that this incredible display is all an attempt to attract bees and other pollinators. These displays don't just consist of things humans notice. There are also patterns in the ultraviolet spectrum, petal temperatures and textures and shapes. LISTEN

Flowers for the Buddha, Buddhist Island, Sri Lanka (Simonmonk/flickr.com)
 
"I sing the body electric," and so do birds and bees. I saw the flowers come to life -- the colors, the colors!

What if all such talk referred to expanded sensitivity of the human eye or brain? There is much more light than we are generally aware of. Think of the devas.

The humble bumble bee is not bumbling. It is generating a field and attracting pollen to itself. A harmless quest for nectar keeps Nature alive. We can learn from that.

The Buddha advises householders in the Sigalovada Sutra (DN 31):
 
Who acquires wealth in harmless ways,
Like a bee who without harm its nectar gathers
--
Riches soon mount high for such a person,
Accruing like an anthill with stunning growth.

With riches acquired in this way,
The layperson fit for household life
In four portions divides such wealth.

Thus does one friendship win:
 
One portion for one’s wants one uses,
Two portions on one’s business spends
[Satisfying the past, ensuring the future].
The fourth for times of need one saves
.

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