Despite its small size, a bee’s brain exhibits the ability for impressive communication, problem-solving, and metacognition. “If we study intelligence not just in humans but in other living things, potentially in machines, we can tidy up the definition of what intelligence is and where we draw the boundary on what’s intelligent and what’s not," says Dr. Andrew Barron, a leading expert in animal cognition, specializing in the honeybee. Dr. Barron and his colleagues have built a computational model of the bee brain in the virtual world. The model has become a dynamic system in which data can run through the computational bee brain and the output can then be analyzed. Information gleaned from the examination of the simply structured minds of invertebrates can lead to accurate hypotheses for more highly structured and diverse intelligences. The simplicity of the honeybee brain has made it accessible for thorough study. Knowledge that is being gained from this research is expected to lead to deeper understanding of more complex thinking systems.