bees

A bumblebee outfitted with a unique tracking tag forages outdoors.

Science

Scientists Spy On Bees, See Harmful Effects Of Common Insecticide

1:02pm November 09, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

Bees exposed to a type of insecticides called neonicotinoids dramatically changed their behavior — becoming sluggish, antisocial and spending less time caring for the colony's young, researchers say.

The alkali bee is slightly smaller than a honey bee, with opalescent stripes that shimmer between yellow, green, red and blue.

Native Bees And Alfalfa Farmers — A Seedy Love Story

2:42pm July 09, 2018

by Aaron Scott

Northwest farmers produce a quarter of the country's alfalfa seeds, but they get help from millions of alkali bees, thanks to one of the most unique agricultural partnerships in the country.

Using card with black symbols, researchers trained honeybees to understand that sugar water would always be located under a card with the least number of symbols — including when presented with a card that was totally blank.

Science

Math Bee: Honeybees Seem To Understand The Notion Of Zero

3:10pm June 07, 2018

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Research shows that bees possess a mathematical ability once thought to exist only in dolphins, primates, birds and humans who are beyond the preschool years.

"Bee health remains of paramount importance for me," said the EU's Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, after the EU moved to ban neonicotinoid insecticides everywhere except greenhouses. Here, a bee hovers near a peach flower.

EU To 'Completely Ban' Outdoor Use Of Pesticides Blamed For Devastating Bees

11:38am April 27, 2018

by Bill Chappell

Citing concerns for food production, the environment and biodiversity, the European Union moves to protect bees from a popular insecticide.

Nigel Raine keeps a collection of wild bees in his laboratory at the University of Guelph, in Canada. Farmed honeybees can compete with wild bees for food, making it harder for wild species to survive.

Honeybees Help Farmers, But They Don't Help The Environment

6:13pm January 27, 2018

by Dan Charles

Maybe honeybees get too much attention. They are agricultural animals, like sheep or cattle, and they sometimes make life harder for wild bees. In fact, the bees in true peril are the wild ones.

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A coffee farmer picks fresh coffee cherries in Colombia. New climate research suggests Latin America faces major declines in coffee-growing regions, as well as bees, which help coffee to grow.

Science

Coffee, Bees and Climate Change Are Linked In Ways You May Not Have Expected

5:36pm September 11, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

A new study projects that by 2050, climate change could reduce the amount of ground usable to grow coffee in Latin America by up to 88 percent. Bees play a key role in increasing coffee yields.

A new study is adding to evidence that a popular class of pesticides can harm wild bees, like bumblebees.

Popular Pesticides Keep Bumblebees From Laying Eggs

3:59pm August 14, 2017

by Dan Charles

A new study is adding to evidence that a popular class of pesticides can harm wild bees, like bumblebees.

Economy

High Country Wildflowers Entering Full Bloom

4:00pm July 28, 2017

by David Ford

The High Country is bursting with color as the wildflower season enters its full bloom.

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With an American honeybee queen for a mother and a European honeybee drone for a father, this worker bee has a level of genetic diversity unseen in the U.S. for decades. Researchers at Washington State University hope a deeper gene pool will give a new ge

No Offense, American Bees, But Your Sperm Isn't Cutting It

9:00am July 13, 2017

by Ryan Bell

U.S. bees are in trouble, and one of the major threats is a deadly parasite called varroa mite. So researchers are importing sperm from European bees resistant to mites to toughen up America's stock.

Beekeepers Feel The Sting Of California's Great Hive Heist

8:09pm June 27, 2017

by Ezra David Romero

This year authorities uncovered a "beehive chop shop:" nearly $1 million in stolen hives in a field in Fresno County. There's money to be made by renting out bees to orchards, and thefts are rising.

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