Bees

Researchers tested their pollen-carrying bubbles on lily, azalea and campanula flowers (shown).

Soap Bubbles Can Pollinate Flowers, but Can They Replace Bees?

New research shows that carefully calibrated soap bubbles cause pear trees to bear fruit

Washington State Department of Agriculture entomologist Chris Looney holds a dead invasive Asian giant hornet alongside the smaller, native bald-faced hornet. With the addition of two new sightings recorded in the last month in Washington and British Columbia, there have now been six confirmed sightings of the world's largest hornet in North America.

Two New Asian Giant Hornet Sightings in Pacific Northwest

The sightings, both of individual dead hornets, expand the area currently being patrolled by scientists hoping to track and eradicate the invasive insect

Discovered at the Yilbilinji rock shelter in northern Australia's Limmen National Park, the drawings are between 400 and 500 years old.

Rare Form of Miniature Stenciled Rock Art Found in Australia

New research suggests the small-scale illustrations may have been made with beeswax

Paratype of Florida's rare blue calamintha bee (male)

Blue Bee Feared to Be Extinct Is Found in Florida

First discovered in 2011, the rare species reappeared recently after nearly a decade of eluding scientists' watch

Silver Y Moth (Autographa gamma), feeding on fuchsia flowers at night in a garden.

Moths Work the Pollination Night Shift, Visiting Some Flowers Bees Skip

A new study highlights the importance of moths as nocturnal pollinators in the English countryside

Honey bees, packed together in their hive, are vulnerable to infection from viruses.

Honey Bee Virus Tricks Hive Guards Into Admitting Sick Intruders

The virus tweaks bee behavior to infect new hives and may also spread other hive-killing pathogens and pests

The face of a sweat bee (Megalopta amoena) that is half female (viewer's left, bee's right) and half male (viewer's right, bee's left)

Meet the Bee With a Body That’s Half Male, Half Female

So-called gynandromorphs are rare, but they can teach us a lot about development and evolution

A bumblebee, barred from touching a sphere that's visible in lit conditions, learns about the object through sight alone.

Like Humans, Bumblebees May Create Mental Images in Their Brains

After touching an object in the dark, the insects can recognize it later through sight alone—a complex cognitive feat

Fuzzy and fast flying, bumblebees tend to run warm, and are best adapted to cooler climes.

Climate Change Has Driven Serious Declines in World’s Bumblebees

The number of habitats in North America that bumblebees occupy has fallen by almost 50 percent

Bees from the nest structures: A) Head, side, top and bottom views of bees found inside the cells, B) drawing of Eufriesea surinamensis and photograph of the head of a modern bee taken by David Roubik

150-Year-Old Mummified Bee Nests Found in Panama City Cathedral

The nests, covered in gold leaf and paint, act as a time capsule for the surrounding environment circa 1870

European honeybees are used by commercial beekeepers worldwide to pollinate crops and produce honey.

These Bees Fight Varroa Mites With Help From Special Engineered Bacteria

Honeybees with engineered microbiomes were more likely to survive both mites and the viruses they carry

The North Island brown kiwi is a flightless, nocturnal bird that lays the biggest egg relative to its body size.

What Bird Lays the Biggest Eggs Compared to Its Body Size? Where Does 'Lame Duck' Come From? And More Questions From Our Readers

You've got question. We've got experts

Among the many threats facing honeybees in the United States, the Varroa destructor mite could be the most devastating.

Beekeepers Seek to Save Honeybees From a Colony-Invading Pest

Facing the scourge of a parasitic Asian mite, commercial beekeepers are trying to breed a resistant strain of honeybee, but other threats loom

Minnesota Will Pay Residents to Grow Bee-Friendly Lawns

Leaving lawns untreated and allowing flowering plants to grow can help support the endangered rusty patched bumblebee

Megachile rotunda

Found: A Bees' Nest Built Entirely of Plastic Waste

It could be a sign of bees’ adaptability to a changing environment—but the habit might also be causing them harm

The insects do not have lungs, so smoke does not pose the same risk as it does to some other animals.

Honey Bees on Notre-Dame’s Roof Survived the Fire

The three hives are located on a roof above the sacristy—around 100 feet below the cathedral's damaged main roof

Honey gathered from urban beehives offers a surprisingly accurate measure of surrounding communities’ air quality

How Urban Beehives Can Help Researchers Detect Air Pollution

Trace elements found in honey may be able to lead researchers straight to the source of environmental contamination

Wallace's giant bee is nearly four times larger than a European honeybee.

World’s Largest Bee Spotted for the First Time in Decades

The Wallace’s giant bee has been seen only a few times since its discovery in 1858; experts weren’t sure it still existed

Honey Bees Can Do Simple Math, After a Little Schooling

Researchers trained 14 bees to add and subtract by one, suggesting their tiny brains have found novel ways of doing complicated tasks

Beach primrose, Oenothera drummondii.

Flowers Sweeten Up When They Sense Bees Buzzing

A new study suggests plants can 'hear' the humming of nearby pollinators and increase their sugar content in response

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