The anti-sophisticates waggle on

Despite the research that indicates that von Frisch was right about the sophistication of bees' waggle dances, the die-hards won't lie down. UC Santa Barbara biologist Adrian Wenner, who has been a beekeeper in the Sacramento Valley since childhood persists:

“Any experienced beekeeper knows that if you put a transponder on a bee, it will cause a 'flight' response, and all the other bees around it will fly in the same direction,” he said. “This research has all sorts of problems with it because they're trying to prove something they think is true -- but scientists are suckers for the exotic, and this controversy will go on and on for decades.”

In those immortal words: they haven't gone away, you know.

UPDATE: Here's another report of the reseach in Wired with some excellent links.