Do bumble bees have faith?

Question

Doing the math says they can not. Science just recently started to provide proof that they "can".

Oct 16, 2001
Lasers illuminate the flight of the bumblebee
A well-known myth says that scientists once proved that bumblebees should not be able to fly. The myth started from an over-simplified calculation on a napkin at a dinner party. But even detailed models of the flight of the bumblebee are limited because they are based largely on the motion of tethered bumblebees, which behave differently. Now Lijang Zeng of Tsinghua University in China and colleagues have devised a laser system that accurately measures the key parameter in the flight of any insect - its 'body vector' (Lijang Zeng et al 2001 Meas. Sci. Technol. 12 1886).

Even though the bumble be can be seen flying, logic says it should not.
So bumble bees just defied science all these years and flew anyway.
If you were an atheist bumble bee, would you have waited for proof that you can fly, or just took a leap of faith?

Answer 1

rotfl! Thats cool, I love it. Sure glad I took that leap of faith.lol

Answer 2

Bumblebees didn't "defy science all these years and fly anyway." They flew because they were able to, and science was at a loss to explain how -- until now. That's the beauty of science, it is able to absorb new knowledge and change with the times -- quite unlike religion.

If I were an atheist bumblebee, I would have flown simply because I actually able to AND I would've worked to alter the mistaken hypothesis which falsely claimed flight was impossible for me. By the way, "logic" never asserted bumblebees can't fly -- they obviously can fly. It was over-simplifying the problem that led to the erroneous result.

Answer 3

The point is that no leap of faith is needed, unless you have never seen a bumble bee fly. Even then it is easy to go find one and watch it.

Scientists know that when a simple fixed wing, wing are to weight model predicts that a bumble bee can not fly that this does not mean that bees can't fly, just that their model is wrong, so they go off, develop a better model of flight and invent the helicopter. (Which by the same simple model can not fly either.)

Or are you claiming that their simple model is correct and that God levitates all the bumble bees? (And helicopters)

Also, what has logic have to do with your argument. The logical argument says the total opposite of what you claim:

I have seen a bumble bee fly with no means of support. Therefore bumble bees can fly. QED.


Unlike religion science is not dogmatic in it's claims. It is always open to new ideas and being corrected.

Answer 4

Bumblebees are yogis. They can see things we can't (ultraviolet) and they can levitate.

I saw a demonstration years ago where ball-bearings were vibrated the way bumblebee bodies vibrate ... and they started to float. The bumblebees' wing size and flap rate were calculated to be insufficient to get their bodies off the ground, so this particular physicist was experimenting with the effects of vibration; his suggestion was that the oscillating high/low pressure differentials above and below the bumblebees' pleasantly plump bodies, assisted their flight through a contributory "levitation" effect.

I think they use the Force, too.
.

Answer 5

No, his mother kicked his a$$ out of the hive and it was a "sink or swim situation." The C-130 cargo jet shouldn't fly either because of it's size, and it's an atheist.

Answer 6

That's pretty damn stupid. Have you never seen a bumblebee fly?

Answer 7

Hold on to that tought.

Because as far as you strecthed it, it might snap back and slap you in the face if you let it go.

Answer 8

Damn it, diver down....what the hell is wrong with you? Seriously. Worst.Question.Ever.

Answer 9

No bumble bees have hives, they collect honey and they can sting you.

Answer 10

Faith or not, Christ did not die for their sins.