New Atlas

Robotics Audio available

Bee+ micro-scale robot flyer gets four wings flapping

Matt Kennedy May 16, 2019

The potential for micro flying-robots in areas like search and rescue, agriculture and hazard detection is huge, but so are the hurdles. Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) have been working on these problems with their Bee+, drawing inspiration from the insect world.

The Bee+ in flight-test mode, showing all four wings operating

Materials

Bee-slobber-inspired adhesive may succeed where others fail

Ben Coxworth March 28, 2019

Depending on their formulation, most adhesives fail either when they're exposed to excessive humidity, or when they dry out in arid conditions. Honeybees, however, don't have such problems with their "pollen pellets." A new understanding of why this is so could lead to better manmade adhesives.

A honeybee, with a pollen pellet stuck to one of its hind legs

Robotics Audio available

Bees and fish learn to communicate long distance – via robots

Michael Irving March 21, 2019

A colony of bees in Austria and a school of fish in Switzerland have become unlikely allies. In experiments run by several European universities, the two very different animal species were able to communicate and coordinate their movements long-distance with the help of some robotic interpreters.

European researchers have used robots to help bees and fish communicate over long distances

Science Audio available

Giant bee species, feared extinct, found alive and well in Indonesia

Michael Irving February 21, 2019

Some studies suggest the world is entering a sixth major extinction event. But now, in a rare piece of good news from that field, researchers from Australia, Canada and the US have rediscovered Wallace’s giant bee, an insect that hasn’t been seen in almost 40 years.

Wallace's giant bee, the largest known bee species in the world, is four times larger than ...

Biology Audio available

Breeding bees with "clean genes" could help prevent colony collapse

Michael Irving February 17, 2019

Honeybees are increasingly under threat. To help save these creatures from extinction, researchers from York University have found a group of genes that appears to be related to how hygienic a particular colony of bees is, and selective breeding for these genes could help fight colony collapse.

Researchers have identified genes associated with cleanliness behaviors in bees, which could ultimately help protect colonies ...

Science Audio available

Bees join list of animals with ability to perform basic arithmetic

Darren Quick February 7, 2019

Researchers have found that bees can do basic arithmetic. The discovery that bees have the ability to add and subtract shows that the busy little insects are capable of a sophisticated level of cognition and proves once again that brain power isn't necessarily dependent on brain size.

Researchers have discovered that bees have the ability to add and subtract

Electronics Audio available

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