Category Archives: Genetics
Bees are Meaner if Childhood is Miserable
Some aggressive honey bees were raised to be mean. Some bees, it seems, grow up on the wrong side of the honeycomb. Or, as one experiment shows, in the wrong sort of hive. Illinois and Pennsylvania researchers conducted a brilliant … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Genetics, Science
Tagged aggressive bees, epigenetics, experiment, nutrition
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Putin Likes Organic Food
Russia’s Vladimir Putin has suggested that anyone who sells or grows genetically modified foods on his turf should face a few years farming in Siberia. He has proclaimed Russia will be GMO-free and he’d like to see his farmers raise … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, Genetics, History, Pesticides, Save the Bees, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Charles Darwin, epigenetics, GMOs, Putin, Russia
2 Comments
Does Royal Jelly Make Royal Queens?
The kids in the Grade 5 classroom knew all about royal jelly. “The bees feed it to their babies and they turn into queens.” And so it is. We think. Royal jelly – countless journal articles (and Wikipedia) tell us … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Genetics, Queens
Tagged DNA, epigenetics, May Berenbaum, queen breeding, royal jelly
7 Comments
Foulbrood – Still Smelling Foul
With so much attention on varroa destructors and nicotine-flavoured pesticides, we sometimes forget some of the other scourges of modern beekeeping. Not long ago, American Foulbrood (AFB) was the worst thing that could happen to your bees. If you were … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Diseases and Pests, Genetics
Tagged American Foulbrood, evolution, South Africa
5 Comments
Uncommon Ancestory
Creatures change with time. You might believe that God controls, guides, or designs those changes or you may have the opinion that random acts in the environment create mutations which change a species. The former idea is accepted by the … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Genetics, Science
Tagged bumblebees, common ancestry, DNA, evolution, honey bees
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May Flowers and May Frosts
My kids picked these flowers as a Mother’s Day gift for my wife. All the blossoms were collected from the yard around our house. Nice bouquet, eh? There is not much in the vase that a honey bee would find … Continue reading
Honey Bee Sauna: “Keeps Bees from Roaring”
A German “crowd sourcing” fund wanted 10,000 Euros to build honey bee saunas. Within a few weeks, they had over 60,000 Euros in pledges – that’s about $75,000. I guess that the contributors don’t realize bees can die in a … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Diseases and Pests, Genetics, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged Bee Sauna, crowd-funding, hive temperature, Mite Zapper, Russian bee, varroa mites
17 Comments
Buzzing Out-of-Sync
If flowers bloom a month earlier than usual – as they reportedly did last year in Maryland – what does that mean for bees? According to Will Plants and Pollinators Get Out of Sync? it could mean trouble. The story … Continue reading
A New Origin for the Bee?
Years ago, we learned that honey bees developed in Africa, then spread north and evolved into different subspecies. It is not surprising that the bee could adapt to the much colder northern climates – you don’t even need to accept … Continue reading
Posted in Genetics
Tagged "Tree of Life", Africa, bee races, CCD, colony collapse disorder, evolution
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Who is the Saint?
On this day in 1970, Norman Borlaug accepted his Nobel Peace Prize. You probably never heard of him. A few days ago, I read an interesting piece in an old New York Times column, written by author/philosopher Steven Pinker. He … Continue reading
Posted in Ecology, Genetics, History, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged genetic modification, Norman Borlaug
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