The human hive.

Dr Maggie Woodhouse introduces presenter Dr Ben Garrod to her family bee hive. Garrod visits Artist Wolfgang Buttress at The Hive, a sculpture on display at Kew Gardens. Garrod visits Dr Jon Adams at Niagara Falls to discuss the relationship between the hexagonal beehive structure and architectural design. Garrod explores the concept of eusociality with Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Corina Tarnita. Garrod visits a UCL professor known as "Wasp Woman", who talks about the social structure of bees, polistes paper wasps and leaf cutting ants. Clips of a dramatisation of Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World' (1931) are played. Garrod and "Wasp Woman" compare the division of labour in a eusocial colony with that of human societies. Evolutionary Biologist Professor Michael Cant compares human and eusocial evolutionary approaches to diminishing fertility, the menopause, and reproductive competition. Adams explains the state of individuality in relation to eusocial colonies, and looks at historical attempts at human eusocialism. He references E.M. Forster's 'The Machine Stops' (1928), comparing Forster's depiction of a eusocial dystopia to contemporary states within virtual reality.