News tagged with honey
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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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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'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 ...
Aug 27, 2010 |
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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.
Dec 21, 2009 |
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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 ...
Sep 11, 2009 |
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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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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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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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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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Protein love triangle key to crowning bees queens?
A honey bee becomes a royal queen or a common worker as a result of the food she receives as a larva. While it has been well established that royal jelly is the diet that makes bees queens, the molecular path ...
Nov 10, 2011 |
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Gene regulatory networks in the bee brain linked to behavior
A new study reveals that distinct networks of genes in the honey bee brain contribute to specific behaviors, such as foraging or aggression, researchers report.
Sep 26, 2011 |
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Team shows how the honey bee tolerates some synthetic pesticides
A new study reveals how enzymes in the honey bee gut detoxify pesticides commonly used to kill mites in the honey bee hive. This is the first study to tease out the precise molecular mechanisms that allow ...
Jul 20, 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.
