This week in “Better Know a Scientist”, I’m interviewing entomologist Amelia Jordan. Amelia graduated with her MSc in Entomology from Washington State University in 2014 where she studied the presence of native bees in alfalfa seed fields. If you missed…
Read More Better Know a Scientist: Entomologist Amelia Jordan
This is the first in a new series called "Better Know a Scientist". The goal of these interviews will be for scientists to share their research, for us readers to gain more knowledge in a field we may not be…
Read More Better Know a Scientist: Entomologist Erfan Vafaie
A recent paper published in The Bulletin of Insectology claiming that neonicotinoids are the sole cause of CCD has been circulating in the media. The author, Chensheng Lu, has a history of doing research that makes spurious claims about the…
Read More Are Neonicotinoids the Sole Factor Responsible for Colony Collapse Disorder?
Shortly after I graduated high school, commercial apiaries started to report massive losses of honeybees. Honeybees are probably the most economically valuable insects in the world, and are responsible for pollinating most of the food we eat. Here in the…
While researchers have been making progress in discovering causes of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), we still don't have all the answers. Some of you may remember awhile back when I wrote about a fly called Apocephalus borealis. This fly was discovered…
Read More Get involved in citizen science… help the honeybees!
Beekeeping is a fun and often very rewarding hobby. If you live in rural areas with a lot of agriculture, keeping bees is seen as a normal and often necessary practice. But given the fascinating and exciting nature of keeping…
One of the most iconic and misunderstood behaviors of honeybees is the "swarm." People fear the swarm - it conjures up thoughts of an unstoppable venomous aerial assault - and yet ironically it is the most friendly and tame way…
I love bees. For over a decade I have been a hobby beekeeper, tending to my hives, catching swarms, and following the news about my flying friends. There is a lot to like about bees, from their biology and behavior…
This Friday and Saturday, I will be attending the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) Organic Farming Conference (OFC) in La Crosse, Wisconsin. By the time I had hear about it last year, it was too late to go,…
