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Swarms of bionic bees could monitor farms with electronic backpacks

Michael Irving December 11, 2018

Our drones are pretty handy, but nature’s drones – bees – are far more efficient. Rather than building our own from scratch, researchers at the University of Washington have created tiny suites of sensors that bees can wear like backpacks, to help gather data from their environment.

Researchers have fitted bees with electronic backpacks that can sense their surroundings and collect data

Medical

Queen bee's secret sauce uncovers a key ingredient that keeps stem cells young

Nick Lavars December 5, 2018

Royal jelly is a substance that separates queen bees from rest. For the first time, scientists have not only zeroed on the protein behind its incredible growth spurts, they’ve used its structure to identify a similar protein in mammals.

Research into the royal jelly secreted by bees as led scientists to a protein in humans ...

Around The Home

Modular hexa-hives claimed to be better for your bees

James Holloway August 29, 2018

A new beehive system made up of a series of hexagonal prisms may be just what your bees need. The Honeycomb Hives system is designed to tackle bee colony losses by making hives which apparently keep pests out, get rid of condensation and which retain heat more efficiently.

Maybe bees were onto something, with all those hexagons

Drones

Dropcopter's drones boost crop pollination by up to 60% in bad bee years

Loz Blain July 4, 2018

A large percentage of the world's food production relies on bee pollination - but what do we do when the bees can't be relied on? US startup Dropcopter has just demonstrated that it can deliver a 25-60 percent boost in pollination rates using autonomous drones to pick up where the bees left off.

The Dropcopter drone is designed to pollen-bomb rows of crops following a pre-programmed route

Environment

Europe-wide pesticide ban to give bees a chance

Nick Lavars April 30, 2018

Neonicotinoids are bad news for bees and we've known it for a while. But the situation regarding bee populations and the world's most widely used pesticide has now become so dire that the EU has placed a complete ban on their outdoor use, and it's expected to take effect by the end of the year.

EU member states have voted in favor of a complete ban on the outdoor use of ...

Space

NASA looking into robo-bees to explore Mars from the air

Nick Lavars April 2, 2018

NASA has just green-lighted a research project to investigate how swarms of robotic bees might spread out over the surface of Mars, equipping our exploration efforts with a much wider net.

Could robotic bees uncover the mysteries of the Red Planet?

Good Thinking

New Flow Hive 2 makes getting honey on tap even easier

Rich Haridy March 27, 2018

In 2015, a clever invention by two Australian beekeepers turned into a record-breaking crowdfunding campaign. The idea was a beehive with a tap system that can siphon honey without opening the lid and disturbing the bees. The duo has now launched the Flow Hive 2, a new and improved design.

Honey on tap just got even easier in the new and improved Flow Hive 2

Environment

Tweaks to pesticide recipe could target pests and leave bees unharmed

Nick Lavars November 26, 2017

Pesticides generally take something of a shotgun approach to eliminating critters, but the problem is not all of them are bad news. Scientists have now discovered a way the recipe of these substances might be refined to better target the bad guys while leaving bees alone.

The development of pesticides that eliminate other pests but leave bees unharmed could help arrest the ...

Science

Bees' left/right-handedness could be applied to human tech

Ben Coxworth November 3, 2017

Most humans are right-handed … but what about honeybees? A new study indicates that about a quarter of them are, while another quarter are left-handed, and half have no preference. The findings could have implications for the steering of fleets of aerial drones.

Some go left, some go right, and some just go

Science

Bees' extra eyes could lead to better cameras

Rich Haridy July 4, 2017

Our brains attempt to identify the true color of an object under changing light conditions is called "color constancy." Cameras don't have this ability, but bees do, and the way they interpret color under varying light conditions could lead to more accurate image-processing.

Bees have three extra eyes on top of their head holding color receptors that help them ...