https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Although honey bees have the ability to regulate hive temperatures, new research published in Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology shows that extreme summer heat can overwhelm these critical pollinators' cooling systems, leading to significant colony population declines. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-extreme-disrupt-honey-bee-thermoregulation.html Plants & Animals Mon, 12 Jan 2026 11:36:45 EST news687440161 When the results of Canada's national honey bee colony loss survey were published in July 2025, they came as no surprise. According to the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists, an estimated 36% of Canada's 830,000 honey bee colonies had perished over the winter. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-worker-honey-bees-infections-queen.html Plants & Animals Mon, 24 Nov 2025 10:53:04 EST news683203981 A group of researchers from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, developed a product made from native bee honey and cocoa bean shells that can be consumed directly or used as an ingredient in food and cosmetics. The results were published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, which featured the study on its cover. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-chocolate-flavored-honey-cocoa-bean.html Biochemistry Wed, 19 Nov 2025 13:30:02 EST news682780872 As Australian Pollinator Week (8–16 November) gets underway, new research has found that many Australians have poor awareness of Australian native bee species—revealing a significant gap in public understanding of the nation's bee biodiversity. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-bee-reveals-gaps-australia-native.html Ecology Mon, 10 Nov 2025 06:51:05 EST news681979862 Animals in children's stories are often depicted as living in neat mom, dad and children family units. Examples include Fantastic Mr. Fox, 101 Dalmatians and, more recently, Peppa Pig and Bluey. But, this might leave people feeling like outsiders if they don't come from a traditional nuclear family set-up. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-children-feature-tidy-nuclear-families.html Education Fri, 07 Nov 2025 00:40:01 EST news681655100 It sounds like the plot of a medieval historical drama: A once-powerful monarch, weakened by illness, is overthrown by her previously loyal subjects. But in honey bee colonies, such high-stakes coups aren't just fantasy—they're a common occurrence that comes with both risk and reward for bee colonies and the food systems that depend on them. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-honey-bees-queen.html Plants & Animals Mon, 27 Oct 2025 17:29:04 EDT news680804942 Late summer in Lower Franconia: There are hardly any flowering plants left, and food for honey bees is becoming scarce. Researchers at the Biocenter have investigated how bees cope with this situation. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-nutrition-honey-bees-late-summer.html Plants & Animals Tue, 21 Oct 2025 09:25:04 EDT news680257501 Organic beekeeping can support healthy and productive honey bee colonies, and a new study led by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has found that adopting organic honey bee colony management is not only profitable, but in some cases, it can be even more profitable than conventional management. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-beekeeping-profitable-conventional-methods.html Plants & Animals Thu, 18 Sep 2025 16:10:04 EDT news677430401 Several genetic variants associated with social behavior in honey bees are located within genes that have previously been linked to social behavior in humans, Ian Traniello at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U.S., and colleagues report in the open-access journal PLOS Biology. The results hint at ancient roots of social behavior that have been conserved across species. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-genetic-mechanisms-underpin-social-life.html Ecology Tue, 16 Sep 2025 14:00:03 EDT news677146456 University of the Sunshine Coast researchers experienced in authenticating manuka honey have developed a new rapid, affordable test that can help identify the next premium Australian honeys. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-potential-aussie-health-honeys.html Plants & Animals Fri, 05 Sep 2025 09:16:04 EDT news676282562 Montana State University-led research finds that bees with deformed wing virus flew shorter distances, whereas bees with sacbrood virus flew greater distances at higher speeds. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-hidden-honey-bee-viruses-flight.html Ecology Tue, 12 Aug 2025 09:39:55 EDT news674210366 Decades ago, archaeologists discovered a sticky substance in a copper jar in an ancient Greek shrine. Until recently, the identity of the residue was still murky—is it a mixture of fats, oils and beeswax or something else? https://phys.org/news/2025-07-year-honey.html Materials Science Wed, 30 Jul 2025 08:00:01 EDT news672936974 EPFL researchers are developing robotic beehive frames that help locate honey stores inside of beehives over time, without relying on cameras. The aim is to develop new observation tools to study honeybee behavior that better fit the bees' natural way to occupy space compared to current methods. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-robotic-insights-honeybee-behavior-honey.html Plants & Animals Mon, 28 Jul 2025 10:46:38 EDT news672918390 The majority of Earth's plant species, including our crop plants, rely on the services of animal pollinators in order to reproduce. Honey bees and other pollinating insects annually contribute billions of dollars to the U.S. economy, and are responsible for nearly a third of the food that ends up on our tables. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-voracious-honey-bees-threaten-food.html Plants & Animals Mon, 07 Jul 2025 03:00:01 EDT news670750501 Resistance to synthetic antibiotics poses a critical global health challenge. Various European honeybee and other natural products have been proposed as novel therapeutic agents to address this problem. However, little has been known about the potential of Australian native bee honey as an antimicrobial agent. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-native-bee-honey-medical-potential.html Plants & Animals Mon, 23 Jun 2025 09:32:04 EDT news669889921 When a semi-truck carrying hundreds of honey bee colonies crashed and overturned in Washington state last week, it wasn't just a roadside mess—it was a potentially devastating economic blow to the beekeeping operation behind it, said Brittney Goodrich, assistant professor of agricultural and consumer economics in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-bee-truck-pose-steep-economic.html Agriculture Wed, 04 Jun 2025 16:05:05 EDT news668271899 At a laboratory in Austria's mountainous Tyrol province, scientists are DNA testing about 100 honey samples a month to learn about their composition—and in some cases to determine whether they have been adulterated. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-austria-trials-dna-uncover-honey.html Ecology Sun, 27 Apr 2025 16:13:41 EDT news664989211 Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence Collective Behavior at the University of Konstanz have discovered that honey bees from the same colony have different preferences in terms of defensive behavior. While some are still hesitating, others are already attacking. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-personality-bees-reveals-differences-honey.html Plants & Animals Thu, 17 Apr 2025 12:59:04 EDT news664113542 Scientists have unveiled a new food source designed to sustain honey bee colonies indefinitely without natural pollen. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-pollen-food-honey-bees-survival.html Ecology Tue, 15 Apr 2025 20:10:01 EDT news663934502 Australia's honeybees are facing an exceptional crisis. The tiny but devastating foreign pest Varroa destructor is steadily spreading across the country. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-australian-honeybees-mites-beetles-backyard.html Ecology Tue, 15 Apr 2025 13:00:04 EDT news663940278 McGill University researchers have developed an AI-powered method to verify the origin of honey, ensuring that what's on the label matches what's in the jar. The breakthrough, published in Analytical Chemistry, offers a potential solution to a long-standing problem. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-honey-fraud-ai-technology.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 14 Apr 2025 13:21:15 EDT news663855673 Cornell University bee experts are analyzing samples of bees and related material to help identify the cause of unprecedented managed honey bee losses this winter. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-experts-massive-honeybee-colony-die.html Plants & Animals Thu, 20 Mar 2025 15:50:02 EDT news661704192 A study of Asian hornets has found about 1,400 different species in their guts. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-species-guts-asian-hornets-highlighting.html Plants & Animals Tue, 04 Mar 2025 07:00:08 EST news660216182 A team of ornithologists from the University of Cape Town, in South Africa, and wildlife managers with the Niassa Carnivore Project, in Mozambique, has found that honey hunters in northern parts of Mozambique use honeyguide birds to find approximately 75% of their annual harvest. In their study, published in the journal Ecosystem Services, the group interviewed honey hunters in Niassa, in northern Mozambique, and also consulted records going back two decades. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-honey-hunters-mozambique-honeyguide-birds.html Ecology Tue, 11 Feb 2025 12:40:01 EST news658499441 Managed honey bees have the potential to affect native bee populations when they are introduced to a new area, but a study led by researchers at Penn State suggests that under certain conditions, the native bees can bounce back if the apiaries are moved away. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-native-bee-populations-honey-bees.html Plants & Animals Thu, 06 Feb 2025 17:01:04 EST news658083661 Honey, a complex substance made by a variety of species of bees, is often celebrated for its sweetness and health benefits. In fact, humans have been using honey, sometimes called liquid gold, for generations to soothe cold symptoms and promote wound healing, citing its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Is there scientific merit to these claims, and, if so, what gives honey its medicinal properties? https://phys.org/news/2024-12-microbiology-honey-sweet-symphony-life.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 20 Dec 2024 10:59:31 EST news653914765 Inside every jar of honey is a taste of the local environment, its sticky sweet flavor enhanced by whichever nearby flowers bees have decided to sample. But a new study from Tulane University has found that honey can also offer a glimpse of nearby pollution. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-bees-nearby-pollution-honey.html Environment Thu, 05 Dec 2024 16:33:11 EST news652638786 In his stone house perched on a hill in northern Ethiopia, Amanuel Hiluf puts on his protective suit, carefully adjusting the hood and gloves. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-ethiopia-famed-honeybees-recovery-war.html Ecology Thu, 07 Nov 2024 04:03:39 EST news650174614 Canada has more than 13,000 beekeepers with almost 1,000,000 beehives spread across every province. Together, they produce about 40,000,000 kilograms of honey each year. That is enough for roughly one kilogram of honey for every Canadian. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-honeybees-pollution-canada.html Ecology Wed, 06 Nov 2024 11:03:40 EST news650113415 In a new study, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign tackled a thorny problem: How do nutritional stress, viral infections and exposure to pesticides together influence honey bee survival? By looking at all three stressors together, the scientists found that good nutrition enhances honey bee resilience against the other threats. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-good-nutrition-boosts-honey-bee.html Plants & Animals Tue, 24 Sep 2024 11:06:48 EDT news646394804