News tagged with honey
Bees at risk from chemicals increase, scientists say
Pesticide use rose by 6.5% between 2005 and 2010, increasing the risk to bee populations, according to new research from the University of Reading launched today by Friends of the Earth.
May 24, 2012 |
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Commonly used pesticide turns honey bees into 'picky eaters'
Biologists at UC San Diego have discovered that a small dose of a commonly used crop pesticide turns honey bees into "picky eaters" and affects their ability to recruit their nestmates to otherwise good sources of food.
May 24, 2012 |
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Selenium impacts honey bee behavior and survival
(Phys.org) -- Entomologists at the University of California, Riverside have a “proof of concept” that selenium, a nonmetal chemical element, can disrupt the foraging behavior and survival of honey ...
Apr 25, 2012 |
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Promiscuous queen bees maintain genetic diversity
By mating with nearly 100 males, queen bees on isolated islands avoid inbreeding and keep colonies healthy.
Apr 16, 2012 |
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Bees 'self-medicate' when infected with some pathogens
Research from North Carolina State University shows that honey bees "self-medicate" when their colony is infected with a harmful fungus, bringing in increased amounts of antifungal plant resins to ward off ...
Mar 30, 2012 |
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Sweet success in hunt for honey's healing factor
Comvita, the New Zealand-based global exporter of natural health and beauty products, and collaborators have identified key compounds in honey that stimulate the immune system, paving the way for a range of new wound-healing ...
Mar 29, 2012 |
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Pesticides not sole cause of declining bee numbers
(PhysOrg.com) -- Despite a growing worldwide clamor to ban pesticides linked to honey bee deaths, multiple factors contribute to the declining honey bee population, not just one class of insecticides, says Extension Apiculturist ...
Mar 20, 2012 |
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Increased honey bee diversity means fewer pathogens, more helpful bacteria
A novel study of honey bee genetic diversity co-authored by an Indiana University biologist has for the first time found that greater diversity in worker bees leads to colonies with fewer pathogens and more ...
Mar 12, 2012 |
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Increasing genetic diversity of honey bees needed
(PhysOrg.com) -- Increasing the overall genetic diversity of honey bees will lead to healthier and hardier bees that can better fight off parasites, pathogens and pests, says bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey ...
Mar 12, 2012 |
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Honey bees study finds that insects have personality too
A new study in Science suggests that thrill-seeking is not limited to humans and other vertebrates. Some honey bees, too, are more likely than others to seek adventure. The brains of these novelty-seeking bees e ...
Mar 08, 2012 |
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Honey could be effective at treating and preventing wound infections
Manuka honey could help clear chronic wound infections and even prevent them from developing in the first place, according to a new study published in Microbiology. The findings provide further evidence for the clinical use of ...
Jan 31, 2012 |
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Deadly fly parasite spotted for first time in honey bees
Honey bees can become the unwitting hosts of a fly parasite that causes them to abandon their hives and die after a bout of disoriented, "zombie-like" behavior, San Francisco State University researchers have ...
Jan 03, 2012 |
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House-hunting honey bees work like complex brains: study
Swarms of bees and brains made up of neurons make decisions using strikingly similar mechanisms, says a new study in the Dec. 9 issue of Science.
Dec 08, 2011 |
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Honey bee mystery protein is a freight train for health and lifespan
Why are bee colonies worldwide suffering mysterious deaths? A unique study describes a single bee protein that can promote bee health and solve a major economic challenge.
Nov 29, 2011 |
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Native bees often better pollinators than honey bee
In 2007, the world was introduced to a plague so disturbing it seemed almost biblical. Out of the blue, honey bees were dropping dead or worse, vanishing into the air by the millions. In the four years since, colony ...
Nov 18, 2011 |
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Honey
Honey (English pronunciation: /ˈhʌni/) is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees (the genus Apis) is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans. Honey produced by other bees and insects has distinctly different properties.
Honey bees transform nectar into honey by a process of regurgitation, and store it as a primary food source in wax honeycombs inside the beehive. Beekeeping practices encourage overproduction of honey so the excess can be taken from the colony.
Honey gets its sweetness from the monosaccharides fructose and glucose, and has approximately the same relative sweetness as that of granulated sugar. It has attractive chemical properties for baking, and a distinctive flavor that leads some people to prefer it over sugar and other sweeteners. Most microorganisms do not grow in honey because of its low water activity of 0.6. However, honey sometimes contains dormant endospores of the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, which can be dangerous to infants, as the endospores can transform into toxin-producing bacteria in the infant's immature intestinal tract, leading to illness and even death (see Health hazards below).
Honey has a long history of human consumption, and is used in various foods and beverages as a sweetener and flavoring. It also has a role in religion and symbolism. Flavors of honey vary based on the nectar source, and various types and grades of honey are available. It is also used in various medicinal traditions to treat ailments. The study of pollens and spores in raw honey (melissopalynology) can determine floral sources of honey. Because bees carry an electrostatic charge, and can attract other particles, the same techniques of melissopalynology can be used in area environmental studies of radioactive particles, dust or particulate pollution.
For more information about Honey, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
