Bees learn to dance and to solve puzzles from their peers
Enlarge / Bumblebees can learn to solve puzzles from experienced peers. Honeybees do the same to learn their waggle dances. Social insects like bees demonstrate a remarkable range of behaviors, from working together to build structurally complex nests (complete with built-in climate control) to the pragmatic division of labor within their communities. Biologists have traditionally…
Bees like to roll little wooden balls as a form of...
Enlarge / This bee seems to having a grand old time rolling this colored wooden ball.Samadi Galpayage There's rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we're once again running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, highlighting one science story that fell through the…
A Meta VR producer shares her typical day, which includes beekeeping,...
Amy Seidenwurm works in virtual reality at Meta. She creates content on issues like trans rights. When she's not working in a VR headset or the computer, she beekeeps or gardens. Seidenwurm shares details about her high-tech work and her low-tech hobbies. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in…
‘Vulture bees’ feed their babies rotting flesh, even though it breeds...
"Vulture bees" feed their larvae rotting meat instead of relying on pollen like other bees. Scientists hung raw chicken in Costa Rica and watched vulture bees fill their leg pouches and stomachs with it. They found acid-producing microbes in the bees' guts. Acid helps vultures and hyenas digest carrion. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing…
The best wildlife photos of 2022 include a ball of bees,...
The London Natural History Museum announced the 2022 winners of its Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest. The 20 winners were selected from more than 38,000 entries. The winning photos include a frenzied ball of bees, a dancing sea star, and the brushy mouth of a whale. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up!…
“Vulture bees” evolved a taste for flesh—and their microbiomes reflect that
Enlarge / University of California, Riverside scientists suspended fresh pieces of raw chicken from branches to attract carrion-feeding "vulture bees" in Costa Rica.Quinn McFrederick/UCR Ask a random person to picture a bee, and they'll likely conjure up the familiar black-and-yellow striped creature buzzing from flower to flower collecting pollen to bring back to the hive. But…
Mergers, twists, and pentagons: The architecture of honeycombs
Bees manage some impressive feats. They not only remember the location of good food sources, but they're able to communicate this information to their peers. They also care for their hive's young and organize attacks against intruders. They're brilliant builders, too. Almost every honeycomb in a hive is a perfect hexagon, with each side the…