bees

It has long been known that insects such as bees help plants reproduce, by spreading pollen from one plant to another. Now, however, a similar arrangement has been discovered in the undersea world – involving red algae and tiny crustaceans.The research was led by PhD student Emma Lavaut, from France's Sorbonne University, and population geneticist Myriam Valero of CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). They collaborated with colleagues from their institutes and the Austral University of Chile.Working…

Life as a single seaweed along a rocky coastline can be tough. Though there are plenty of potential partners out there, stalks of these large algae are stuck in place, and possible mates often keep their reproductive structure hidden. For the red seaweed Gracilaria gracilis, which grows in scraggly clumps, this is a particular problem. Its male gametes, or spermatia, lack flexible flagella to propel them through the water. “Without the ability to swim, the sperm needs to navigate its way to the female plants in some other…

We swat bees to avoid painful stings, but do they feel the pain we inflict? A new study suggests they do, a possible clue that they and other insects have sentience—the ability to be aware of their feelings. “It’s an impressive piece of work” with important implications, says Jonathan Birch, a philosopher and expert on animal sentience at the London School of Economics who was not involved with the paper. If the study holds up, he says, “the world contains far more sentient beings…

We've heard about robots that communicate with one another via wireless networks, in order to collaborate on tasks. Sometimes, however, such networks aren't an option. A new bee-inspired technique gets the bots to "dance" instead.Since honeybees have no spoken language, they often convey information to one another by wiggling their bodies.Known as a "waggle dance," this pattern of movements can be used by one forager bee to tell other bees where a food source is located. The direction of the movements corresponds to the…

| Rather remarkably, Yellowjacket, the headline character of Yellowjacket Comics, was not the first Golden Age comic book superhero with the power to control bees. The Red Bee, a Quality Comics character debuting in Hit Comics #1, created by Toni Blum and Charles Nicholas, used trained bees. But while Quality Comics and all of its titles and characters are fairly well documented, very little is known for sure about who created the Yellowjacket, or even who published him.  An obscure Golden Age comic book title that…

A yellow-faced bumble bee, or Bombus vosnesenskii.Photo: K E Magoon (Shutterstock)Some of California’s most crucial insects seem to have gone missing. A new study suggests that populations of once-abundant bumble bee species in California may have experienced serious decline, after researchers conducted the first statewide survey of bumble bee species in 40 years.01:57Rainn Wilson’s First Fandoms: Star Trek And D&DYesterday 4:32PMUnlike their popular cousins, bumble bees don’t create honey for human consumption. But…

AGRICULTURE Vaccine targets African swine fever Vietnam’s agriculture ministry last week gave limited authorization to a vaccine hailed as an important tool to control one of the most serious animal diseases, African swine fever (ASF). In recent years the sickness has hit pig herds hard in several Asian and European countries. Vietnam’s National Veterinary Joint Stock Company developed the vaccine based on an ASF virus strain engineered by the U.S. Agricultural Research Service…

Not sure I remember this part of biology class!Bee KindBees are fish, corporations are people — and California, as always, is an entertaining mess.A California appellate court ruled this week that bees can legally be classified as fish, a decision which — albeit in an incredibly roundabout and bureaucratic manner — is poised to help protect bees in the Golden State.Although California's Department of Fish and Wildlife considers a number of bee species to be "endangered," there were no previous legal protections under the…

Photo: Sean Gallup (Getty Images)A California judge ruled this week that bees can now be legally defined as “fish” under a state conservation law, but they’re still biologically bees (obviously).The decision comes from California’s Third District Court of Appeal, whichruled on Tuesday that the California Endangered Species Act can protect bees. In 2020, the Sacramento County Superior Court ruled that the California Fish and Game Commission could not list invertebrates (like bees) under the California Endangered Species…

The world's favorite herbicide is making it harder for buff-tailed bumblebees to keep their hives warm enough to incubate larvae, new research finds. Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) face food shortages due to habitat loss and the widespread monocultures of agricultural crops. Like honeybees, they feed on nectar collected from plants, and store more of it in their nest. They also gather nectar and pollen to feed their young.   Bumblebees are unique in their ability to maintain a collective 'thermostat' of sorts, to keep…