CURIOSITY NEVER RETIRES

Welcome to "Granny & Paw Learn Stuff"! We are a pair of very curious grandparents on a mission to explore the world around us and share our discoveries with the next generazioni. Inspired by the insatiable curiosity of Leonardo da Vinci, we made a pact decades ago to never stop learning.

Whether it's unraveling the mysteries of nature, diving into history's greatest innovations, marveling at the world of artificial intelligence, or the beauty of everyday things, we are constantly in awe of the wonders that surround us. And now, we're positively thrilled to invite our family and friends along on our journey of learning.

We’ve always tried to do our best to pass on our passion for curiosity to our children and anyone else who shares our love of discovery. Now it’s the grandkids who are our focus and this is for them. You are welcome to join us as we celebrate the power of asking questions, pursuing knowledge, and embracing the amazing in the ordinary. Let's learn stuff, together! - Granny & Paw

THE MOST RECENT STUFF

2026 • WEEK 29 • JUly 19 -JulY 25
SPONTANEOUS PROBLEM-SOLVING IN BUMBLE BEES

What Happened:
A bumblebee found herself in an impossible spot: the flower holding her reward was on the ceiling, and nothing in her training had prepared her for that. She looked around the small arena, spotted a foam ball nearby, rolled it into place beneath the flower, climbed on top, and reached her prize. No trial and error, no hints. Researchers at the University of Oulu in Finland published the finding in the journal Science this past June, and it echoes a famous test from over a century ago, when psychologist Wolfgang Köhler stacked boxes to prove a chimpanzee named Sultan could think his way to a banana. For a hundred years, scientists assumed that kind of sudden insight required a large, complex brain. A bumblebee's brain is smaller than a sesame seed, holding roughly a million nerve cells, yet, three out of four bees solved the puzzle anyway, even in follow-up tests where the flower wasn't visible from where they started.

Why It Matters:
For a hundred years, "insight" belonged to chimps, crows, and us because we were the creatures assumed to have brain to spare for genuine thinking. A bumblebee just moved into that clubhouse with a tiny brain you could mistake for a grain of sugar. She didn't stumble onto the answer; she held a goal in mind, saw what she needed, and built it. That's not instinct. That's insight. 

Past studies have already suggested bees have a sense of rhythm, can create mental images, can do simple math, and understand the concept of zero. The sesame seed keeps surprising us. Maybe the better question isn't how much intelligence fits in a small brain. Maybe it's how many kinds of thinking are happening all around us, right now, in the grass and the clover and the air, patient and purposeful and entirely their own. It's worth asking ourselves, what else we've been underestimating. — Granny & Paw


Source:
University of Oulu / Science, "Spontaneous problem-solving in bumble bees," 2026.

Read the article here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/06/260625014755.htm

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