Bumble bees buzz for lots of reasons. Courtship. Anger — or, to be scientific, alarm — Or, like this, to rattle the anthers of a flower and liberate a shower of pollen. It’s called sonication. Lots of bees do it. This is the common Eastern bumble bee. Scientists wanted to see if the behavior was learned or innate, because feeding on nectar requires a lot of learning. Turns out it’s innate. The bees bite the anther to hang on and bzzzzz until they get what they want. Then they groom themselves to get as much as they can to the big pollen baskets on their legs. These bees were lab raised and had never seen a flower before, but they knew exactly what to do. That’s mixed news. Bees should easily adapt to new kinds of flowers. And they should be good at colonizing — or invading — new areas.