Sussex/Queen's Belfast - Solidarity no sweat down south

Brighton may not be everyone's idea of a holiday destination, but for a particular species of bee it is enough to encourage them to make more friends. Scientists at the University of Sussex, in collaboration with colleagues at Queen's University Belfast, discovered that a type of solitary "sweat bee" became more sociable when moved from Northern Ireland to the south coast of England. The reverse happened when sociable members of the same species - Halictus rubicundus - were moved north to Scotland. Sweat bees are so called because they are attracted to the salt in human perspiration.