honeybee

Richard Ozero operates a forklift in his warehouse, loading drums full of honey into a semi-trailer. His son uses a dolly to transport and organize the drums deeper into the trailer.This wasn't Ozero's initial entrepreneurship plan, but he's happy with how things are going since he jumped head-first into beekeeping.Alberta is Canada's honey powerhouse; Ozero and his family are among hundreds of beekeepers helping the province's honey industry buzz."Looking back, I don't know how we did it," he said. "I don't know if I…

A new study at the University of Leeds indicates that traditional beekeeping hives may be causing thermal stress to bees by increasing heat loss. His findings challenge the accepted theory of bee clustering for insulation, suggesting an urgent need to revise beekeeping practices for better bee welfare.Honeybees do not naturally insulate their colonies against the cold, according to new research by the University of Leeds.The results of the study carried out by Derek Mitchell, a PhD student at the University of Leeds’…

Scientists have discovered that a common natural sugar could play a role in boosting cancer treatments like chemotherapy. Mannose was found to be able to invoke “honeybee syndrome” in cancer cells to slow their growth and make them more vulnerable to attack.Mannose is found in many types of fruit and occurs naturally in the human body, where it performs a vital process called glycosylation, which stabilizes the structure of proteins and helps them interact with other molecules.So far, it hasn’t been found to have many…

Researchers have enlisted a new kind of helper to monitor the microbiomes of cities around the world: the honeybee. A recently published analysis shows that the debris which gathers at the bottom of their hives can reveal a great deal about what's going on in their urban environments.Much like our guts, cities too have microbiomes, a composite of various types of microorganisms that thrive in the environment. And, much like analyzing the microbiome in our guts can reveal important details about our physical condition,…

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved the world's first insect vaccine, developed to protect honeybees from a devastating bacterial disease known to decimate entire hives.Insect immune systems are highly effective at targeting and eliminating pathogens. But unlike vertebrates, such as us humans, insects lack an adaptive antibody-driven immune response. This has led many scientists to suggest it may be impossible to develop vaccines for insects.A few years ago Dalial Freitak, from the University of Helsinki,…

Shayla Love: This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Shayla Love. When you hear a bee buzzing along, visiting a flower, you’re hearing the movement of air made by the fluttering of its wings. But it turns out that bees are buzzing in more than one way. Giles Harrison: I first saw this when I saw a bumblebee land on an electrode I was using, and I saw a real change in the measurement. And I thought, “This is a charged thing.”  Love: That’s Giles Harrison, a professor of atmospheric physics at the University…

A new paper shows how the lifespan of the adult honeybee appears to have shrunk by nearly 50 percent in the past 50 years.The European Red List for Bees suggests nearly one in ten species of wild bees are facing extinction. Imagine how we would react if human lifespans halved. The equivalent would be if the average woman in the UK was living to 41 instead of 82 years old.Our future is intertwined with bees. Without bees and other pollinators, we cannot grow the majority of crops we depend on for food.This research could…

It is believed that parasitic varroa mites may be one of the main causes of colony collapse disorder, which is decimating honeybee colonies around the world. There may be hope, however, as a new chemical has been found to eradicate the mites without harming the bees.Once present in a colony, varroa mites kill and eat honeybee larvae, plus they weaken adult bees by biting chunks out of their bodies. Those weakened bees then have difficulty foraging to support the colony, plus they're more likely to become infected with…

Breadcrumb Trail Links Life Culture Books People have embraced the 'Save the Bees' slogan — but few understand which bees need saving Publishing date: Aug 02, 2022  •  4 minutes ago  •  10 minute read  •  Join the conversation In 2012, the rusty-patched bumblebee became the first native bee in Canada to be designated as endangered. Photo by Ann Sanderson Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission…