An isolated population of honeybees, the Cape bees, living in South Africa has evolved a strategy to reproduce without males. A research team has sequenced the entire genomes of a sample of Cape bees and compared them with other populations of honeybees to find out the genetic mechanisms behind their asexual reproduction. Most animals reproduce … More How some honeybees do without males
The following pleading email has been sent around the world, in petitioned format, encouraging people of conscience to speak out against the potential travesty of a buy out by Bayer of Monsanto, one of the biggest chemical corporations in the world. “Breaking news: We just found out that Bayer is definitely moving forward on its … More Urgent email traverses the globe in an attempt to rescue the bees and ourselves at the same time
Male bumblebees are just as smart as female worker bees despite their dim-witted reputation, according to new research from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). Researchers from QMUL’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences trained male and female bumblebees to distinguish between artificial flowers that contained food and another that did not. The new study … More Male bees have more than a one-track mind
If the backyard isn’t buzzing this summer, blame it on deadly mites and the diseases they carry, says Dewey Caron, the University of Delaware’s resident ‘bee guy,’ who braves apiaries from America to the Amazon, and most recently joined a team investigating major honeybee losses in the northeastern United States. Golden honeybees are essential for … More If the backyard isn’t buzzing this summer, blame it on deadly mites and the diseases they carry
This is a a bumblebee covered in body hairs. Credit: University of Bristol Tiny, vibrating hairs may explain how bumblebees sense and interpret the signals transmitted by flowers, according to a study by researchers at the University of Bristol. Although it’s known that flowers communicate with pollinators by sending out electric signals, just how bees detects … More Dancing hairs alert bees to floral electric fields
Bees in urban areas stick to a flower-nectar diet, steering clear of processed sugars found in soda and other junk food, new research indicates. Research from North Carolina State University finds that bees in urban areas stick to a flower-nectar diet, steering clear of processed sugars found in soda and other junk food. Credit: Lauren … More No junk-food diet: Even in cities, bees find flowers and avoid processed sugars
A recently launched program aims to provide work for about 12,500 Ethiopians in beekeeping and silkworm farming. It’s supporting out-of-school and unemployed young people between ages 18 and 24. By Pius Sawa, Thomson Reuters Foundation Brendan Bannon/MasterCard Foundation Nairobi, Kenya — Beekeeper Ayenalem Ketema is the proud owner of three hives which have produced enough … More Modern beekeeping offers Ethiopian youths a sweeter future
Honeybee populations are under attack but the founders of nonprofit HoneyLove believe bees’ best future is in cities. By Daniel B. Wood Rebecca Cabage / Special to The Christian Science Monitor The recent Saturday gathering aims to reverse the trend. Ms. McFarland’s hope is that the information will ignite a passion within the listeners to … More Chelsea and Rob McFarland lure people into a sweet science: urban beekeeping
“Honey production is not a panacea. We’re not trying to save the country or eliminate the conflict, but we do want to do our part,” Madison Ayer, head of the development charity Honey Care Africa, told Reuters. … More South Sudan finds sweet success with honey
Wild bumblebees are born with the ability to remove pollen from nectarless flowers using high-frequency vibrations, researchers have found. This study is the first to show that the ability to vibrate flowers to extract pollen is an innate behavior in bumblebees and one that is refined over time. … More Bees are born with the ability to collect pollen by buzzing, but practice makes perfect
Save The Bees Concert 