Let’s talk about the methods they used to investigate play. The researchers designed an experiment where they could observe bee behavior. I’m just going to draw their apparatus here and I’ll explain it in a second. Over here on the right hand side is the nest box, where they nested. There’s a tunnel that goes into the experimental arena. And on one side there are little wooden balls that are mobile. And on the other side are little wooden balls that are stationary. If the bees kept going they found themselves in an arena that had food, both sucrose and pollen. The researchers then looked at video of bee behavior in this arena over 18 days. Just a note – they tried to make this experience as low stress for the bees as possible.