That's a slightly fanciful description Adam. I think it's more a status report that enables the bees to manage release without fighting.... but of course the whole thing is slightly undermined by the fact that we all know there can be multiple queens out in the hive at one time or you wouldn't have castes with more than one virgin queen. I wonder if the researchers realised that can happen? Of course not - they are insect biologists first and there may not be a beekeeper in the team.....
More worrying is this extract from the BBC report:
"With honeybees under threat of extinction, beekeepers and the hives they provide are crucial for their survival. The researchers hope their eavesdropping exercise will help beekeepers avoid interfering with this delicate collective decision-making and to predict when their own colonies might be about to swarm. "
Avoid interfering - so abandon swarm control? And having predicted that the bees are about to swarm we'll know not to get in the way
Scientists - Not sure it's a compliment to be called that these days
Sorry; just getting irritated by researchers assuming we know nothing and presuming to tell beekeepers what to do!