Researchers said they have unlocked the mysteries of the honeybee waggle dance.

The scientists from Edinburgh, Scotland, said they uncovered how the industrious insects decode the intricate dances performed by their hive mates to convey directions to food sources.

For decades, researchers have marvelled at honeybees' ability to execute waggle dances, intricate movements on the honeycomb that convey crucial information regarding the direction and distance to food beyond the hive.

However, the mechanics behind how bees interpret these dances in the complete darkness of their hive have remained elusive.

A breakthrough study led by a team from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom has unveiled the remarkable role played by bees' antennae in deciphering these dances.

By closely studying a colony of honeybees and employing computational models to mimic their brain processes, researchers delved into the complex mechanisms at play within the hive.

Utilizing slow-motion, high-resolution filming under infrared light, the team captured detailed footage of bees engaged in waggle dances. This footage revealed a crucial detail previously obscured to the naked eye: the precise movements of their antennae.

Intriguingly, the researchers observed that bees adjust the position of their antennae in response to the angle of their body relative to the dancer bee, which repeatedly touches the antennae during its waggle.

This astute manoeuvre enables bees to decode dances from various angles or positions, leveraging signals picked up by their antennae in tandem with their innate sense of gravity.

Remarkably, the study found that bees accomplish this feat with remarkable efficiency, requiring fewer than one hundred neurons to integrate information and discern the angle and distance to the indicated food source.

The findings, published in the journal Current Biology, represent a significant step forward in understanding honeybees' complex cognitive abilities.

Beyond their implications for the study of insect behaviour, these insights hold promise for addressing pressing ecological concerns such as habitat loss and pesticide use, which impact bees' ability to forage for food.

PhD student Anna Hadjitofi, a member of the University of Edinburgh's School of Informatics, said: 'This is particularly exciting because it unveils a remarkably elegant neural mechanism employed by bees to decipher complex information with minimal resources.'

Professor Barbara Webb, also from the University's School of Informatics, emphasised the broader implications of the study.

She said: 'Understanding how the small brains of insects carry out such sophisticated calculations can help us design more compact and energy-efficient computers.'