Bees

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? Chart du jour: Bees are all the buzz

By Brianna Crane and Simran Parwani

Data: USDA Census of Agriculture; Note: Farms include places that produce/sell at least $1000 of agricultural products; Map: Axios Visuals Honeybees have made a big comeback since the colony collapse crisis of the early 2000s. Now, these tiny creatures are the fastest-growing type of livestock in the country, Axios' Jacob Knutson reports. Zoom in: In Maryland and Virginia, the number of colonies grew nearly 25% and 20%, respectively, in five years. Go deeper: U.S. bee farms are buzzing

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? One for the road: Buzzing the tower

Axios' Chrissy Suttles gets up close and personal with PIT's honeybees. Pittsburgh International Airport is now home to one of the country's largest airport apiaries, Axios' Chrissy Suttles reports. ? The project has 4 million honeybees producing 3,000-4,000 pounds of honey annually and protects pollinators and passengers alike. ? The effort took off more than a decade ago after thousands of honeybees swarmed a refueling plane. The airport had experts safely relocate the bees — eventually leading to a major beekeeping initiative. Go deeper ...

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Underwater Bees

Queen bumblebees are able to breathe underwater while hibernating, a study revealed yesterday. The physical mechanism behind this process is yet to be fully understood. Queens are the only colony members that survive winter, spending six to nine months in a hibernating state called diapause. Their shallow burrows tend to become waterlogged, and in a 2024 study, a researcher studying the impact of pesticides accidentally discovered bees can survive while totally submerged. To examine this phenomenon, scientists placed bees underwater in refrigerated conditions for up to eight days. They noticed the bees were producing small amounts of carbon dioxide.  Researchers suspect the bees may have a physical gill—a thin layer of air surrounding them, enabling small amounts of oxygen intake and the release of carbon dioxide. While diapausing, the bees lower their metabolism by 99%, reducing energy intake needs. Even so, lactate accumulated, indicating the bees were supplementing with anaerobic respiration (as humans do during intense activity). Learn more about bees and other pollinators here.

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Box-and-Banana for Bees

Bumblebees have demonstrated the ability to carry out spontaneous problem-solving, a study published last week reveals. The animal is the first nonvertebrate to pass a test compared to the box-and-banana experiment for chimpanzees.  In the 1910s, German psychologist Wolfgang Köhler placed a banana outside the reach of a chimpanzee. In one experiment, he placed several boxes nearby, with the chimpanzee realizing he could stack the objects to reach the treat (see image). Other large-brained animals—including elephants and birds—have since shown a similar capacity for what Köhler called insight learning (watch a pigeon pass the test, w/video).   In the latest experiment, researchers trained bumblebees to associate a blue flower with a treat and to recognize that a Styrofoam ball was harmless. In several experiments, the bumblebee showed the capacity to manipulate the ball to reach the treat. The bee is now the smallest-brained animal to have passed Köhler’s test. See the experiments in action here (scroll for video).

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> Honeybee queens exposed to pesticides off-load the toxins into their eggs to protect themselves (More) | How honeybees and other pollinators contribute over $200B to the global economy (More, w/video)