Honey bees vote to decide on nest sites—why we should listen

When people think of honey bees, they often think of classic wooden hives, in which beekeepers are having to breed more and more bees just to keep managed populations stable. These man-made boxes, designed to facilitate pollination ...

Biologists investigate how bees identify their own nests

Not all bees and wasps live in colonies of several thousand individuals. The horned mason bee (Osmia cornuta), for example, nests solitarily. When choosing a nesting site, the females often use existing cavities ranging from ...

Slightly lost bumble bees use scent to find their way home

Put yourself in the exoskeleton of a bumble bee for a moment: Your world would be a riot of colors and scents, both essential to guide your search for pollen and nectar. Bumble bees have excellent vision: They have a pair ...

Engineers may learn from bees for optimal honeycomb designs

Perfect hexagonal structures inspired by honeycombs in bee nests are widely used to build everything from airplane wings, boats, and cars, to skis, snowboards, packaging and acoustic dampening materials.

First report of dorsal navigation in a flying insect

People—who get lost easily in the extraordinary darkness of a tropical forest—have much to learn from a bee that can find its way home in conditions 10 times dimmer than starlight. Researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical ...

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