Honey bees, wild and native bees face threats from parasites, pesticides and habitat loss. Shorter winters, more extreme weather and more habitat destruction won’t help.
The son of a formerly enslaved mother, Charles Henry Turner was the first to discover that bees and other insects have the ability to modify their behavior based on experience.
Studying bee sperm is difficult because of the way it coils, but fluorescent light illuminates the head of the sperm. Sperm quality may indicate stress levels in the bee colony.
Small hive beetles are the only species known to trick worker bees into feeding them essential food for the bee colony’s own survival and reproduction.
The miniature brains of honeybees were able to understand the concepts of odd and even, despite only having 960,000 neurons (compared to 86 billion in humans).
Studies suggest that seeds coated with neonicotinoid insecticides may harm nontarget insects, mammals and birds. In response, states are starting to restrict use of these products.
Half of all flowering plants mostly or completely rely on animal pollinators to make seeds. A decline in pollinators could cause major disruptions in natural ecosystems.
Tlou Masehela, South African National Biodiversity Institute
Honeybees are crucial for pollinating crops and plants. They need good forage resources to do this and these resources are under threat in South Africa.
We first encountered the letter in 2019, when a reader shared it with us. In it, Einstein discusses bees, birds and whether new physics principles could come from studying animal senses.