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Winter honey bee losses decline

Total losses of managed honey bee colonies from all causes dropped to 21.9 percent nationwide for the 2011/2012 winter, a decline of some 8 percentage points or 27 percent from the approximately 30 percent ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 1 hour ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

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.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 24, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

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 ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 08, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

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.

Biology / Ecology

created May 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

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.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 08, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

'Swindon Honeybee' could save Britain's bees

(PhysOrg.com) -- Honey bee numbers have been declining almost everywhere due to a pesticide-resistant mite called Varroa. Now a beekeeper in Britain claims to have discovered a strain of bee that destroys ...

Biology / Ecology

created Aug 27, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 1 | with audio podcast report

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 ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 30, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Bees Throw Out Mites

Honey bees are now fighting back aggressively against Varroa mites, thanks to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) efforts to develop bees with a genetic trait that allows them to more easily find the mites ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Sep 11, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (10) | comments 3

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 ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

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 ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 03, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (13) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

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 ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 12, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Promiscuous queen bees maintain genetic diversity

By mating with nearly 100 males, queen bees on isolated islands avoid inbreeding and keep colonies healthy.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 16, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Honey bee search strategy: Robot swarms to search Mars caves

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a recent paper published in Acta Astronautica, Aron Kisdi, a University of Southampton engineer, proposes an idea of utilizing a swarm of robots to search large areas of Mars and the ca ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 22, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (12) | comments 10 | with audio podcast report

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.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 29, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Wiggling and waggling: Study sheds light on amazing bee brain

(PhysOrg.com) -- Their brains are tiny - about the size of sesame seeds - and yet the behaviour of the humble honey bee is so advanced it has scientists scratching their heads in disbelief.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (12) | comments 0

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.